


Coercion

by forthenomin



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Armpit Kink, Body Worship, Dubious Consent, Enemies to Lovers, Graphic Description, M/M, Porn With Plot, Rimming, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 11:23:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 50,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20947526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forthenomin/pseuds/forthenomin
Summary: A wolf in sheep's clothing, that is what Na Jaemin is—a vindictive and manipulative walking catastrophe hiding under the guise of smiles and kindness. When caught in the act of spending the school fund by Lee Jeno, he finds himself in an unflattering agreement.





	Coercion

**Author's Note:**

> Yo, this one is not proofread. I'll proofread it when I have time.
> 
> Follow me on Twt & CC: @forthenomin. I do bits of my fics there.

**Coercion**

If people, student body and school faculty alike, at his school were to describe Na Jaemin, they would, without a doubt, say that he’s kindhearted, mellow, compassionate, sympathetic, thoughtful, selfless, and probably, all the positive adjectives one could find in the English dictionary. People would probably bow down to him if he asks them to. He’s just that influential.

He has a large following of students who are willing to do everything and anything for him without asking. One word from him is all it takes for those people to do whatever he wants. They would all be on their feet, begging him to be the one to do whatever it is for him.

People have always wondered why he’s even friends with the most vile people in their school with the likes of Lee Taeyong, Ten Leechaiyapornkul, and Xiao Dejun, considering how polar opposite he is to them. Ten Leechaiyaporkul is a mean-spirited, foul, and spiteful person who always gets into a catfight with other students despite his disadvantage in height, and Xiao Dejun is an ambitious, cunning, and unsympathetic who is willing to throw anyone, excluding the people in their group, under the bus as long as it favors him. Meanwhile, Lee Taeyong, notwithstanding with his celestial beauty, is a holier-than-thou, cynical, and passive-aggressive person who looks down on everyone and thinks he’s above them.

What everyone doesn’t know is behind his alluring smile, contagious laugh, and compassionate acts hides an evil Na Jaemin within him. Everything that everyone sees are a facade, a mere front to wrap everyone around his fingers. Na Jaemin, in his realest state, is a scheming, vindictive, manipulator who always has his way with people in able to use them to his own advantage. And when people see through him or don’t obey him, he’s like a thief in the night who moves stealthily not just with the intention of taking away something from you but also hurting you.

Na Jaemin moves under the radar, and he strikes in secrecy. The only people who know and are aware of that are the people who unfortunately crossed paths with him, including his ex-best friend, Haechan Lee.

It all stemmed from an insecurity . Between the two of them, Haechan had always had the nicer things, from clothes, grades, and achievements all the way to family, friends, and even love life. Haechan had all the designer clothes, whereas Jaemin used to wear hand-me-down ones from his distant cousins. While Haechan had excellent academic performance, Jaemin was average and pretty stagnant. There were even times when he flunked, hard. Haechan was often sent out to compete with other schools, whereas Jaemin waited for the class to end and tend to his cleaning duties, wiping the classroom floor and windows.

Haechan grew up in a loving and nurturing family, while Jaemin had to suffer from a dysfunctional home where he often felt like shit because of always being blamed for the things he had no control over. Outside their friendship, Haechan had many other friends, which made Jaemin envious, considering Haechan was his only friend at the time before it all went down between. The final straw was when Haechan got into a relationship with Mark Lee.

Ever since he’d known Mark Lee, Jaemin had always had a teeny, tiny crush on him. To be fair, though, both he and Haechan had a thing for Mark Lee, but they were okay with it. In fact, they would often talk about him in Haechan’s bedroom on their sleepover at the Lees and just talk about how perfect Mark Lee is.

Unlike the snotty kids with bowl cuts and round glasses in their middle school, Mark Lee stood out with his chiseled cheekbones, sharp as a knife jawlines, big, round eyes, and his pristine and pale complexion, the ex-best friends were enamored. Add to those qualities Mark Lee’s deep, baritone voice, cool demeanor, and English fluency. No wonder he became an instant celebrity to their school in just a week.

Back then, Jaemin had often visualized Mark Lee as his savior, a prince, a knight in shining armor. That all shattered when Haechan introduced Mark Lee to him in their freshman year of high school.. It turned out that that Haechan and Mark Lee had been talking in secrecy during the summer, but Haechan hid it from him because the latter didn’t want him to get mad and taint their friendship.

Betrayed, Jaemin completely lost it and spread a bunch of rumors and threads of lies about Haechan, including how the latter had /stolen/ Mark Lee from him and threw their friendship over some guy Haechan barely knew. Since Haechan was pretty outgoing and friends with everybody, no one believed Jaemin...until he used his sob story as a leverage to gain more sympathy from other people and paint himself as a martyr and Haechan as the villain.

Slowly but surely, everyone dropped Haechan as fast as Jaemin dropped him. He got basically outcasted by everyone with a few exceptions. It completely changed Haechan. If he was outgoing, friend, and sociable, now he could barely look anyone in the eye, and he always has his eyes downward. It doesn’t matter if he’d bump into a lamppost, a wall, anything, so as long as he doesn’t make eye contact with him. Luckily, Mark Lee and a couple of their friends stood by his side and protected him from all the malice and hate toward him.

Due to that incident, people started praising Jaemin, often telling him how brave and gutsy he was for dropping such a snake of a friend. He started gaining support from everyone and eventually found solace in his seniors, namely Lee Taeyong and Ten Leechaiyapornkul, and his classmate, Xiao Dejun. He told them what really happened, because the three weren’t convinced by him. Initially, he thought that once the three found out the truth, they’d publicly humiliate him and tell everyone the real story. Boy was he wrong. Instead, he gained support from them, considering the three had a kind of similar experience as Jaemin. And that was the start of everything.

His seniors, although infamous, are the ones he considers friends. After all, they had a somewhat similar experience to him, making them the way they are today. They were all hurt by the people and took advantage of them. So, it just seems reasonable for them to do the same thing.

The feeling of having everyone wrapped around his finger, for Na Jaemin, is the best thing he’d ever felt. With just a little touch up to his choice of clothing, skincare, and makeup, plus his sob story, he had everyone doing everything for him. He had people doing his homework for him, carrying his backpack, and covering him in his cleaning duties. A simple smile is all it takes and everyone would be down on their knees. He plays and manipulate them, play with their emotions into doing what he wants. If they don’t, he guilt-trips them and make them feel bad. And if that still doesn’t work, he spreads false rumors about them and assassinate their character.

Using those strategies, Jaemin was able to build an empire and a large following of students who are willing to take a bullet for him. He was able to climb the social hierarchy and stay at the top along with the only real friends he considers.

Jaemin, together with the rest of newly elected student council, stands on stage in the school quadrangle, waving at the sea of students scattered all over, taking pictures of them. He stood proudly, internally laughing at the students’ naivety. What can he say? He’s a damn good actor.

The weather was fairly nice. There were not too many clouds floating in the pastel blue sky of Seoul. In the quadrangle, students of all years gathered with their paper headband containing the name of the party they were in favor of, while the three parties occupied small areas located near to the stage. A quiet and soft music was playing in the background.

“Thank you so much for believing in me,” Jaemin stated as he held the microphone in one hand with the fakest smile he’s ever pulled in his entire life. “I promise to the entire student body that I will do my best in running the treasury of the school. I will try my hardest to manage finances and liquidate the future expenses. Aside from all the duties I will have as an elected secretary, I will also do my utmost best to be a role model to my fellow schoolmates, especially to my juniors who look up to me. Thank you for thinking that I’m capable of being one of the representatives of you all. Thank you.”

A loud collective clapping resounded in the quadrangle, making Jaemin smirk internally as he roamed his eyes, spotting the people he’d had beef with and feeling some sort of satisfaction from their distasteful expression.

The other elected students, Xiao Dejun and Lee Taeyong included, gave their speech before it all ended. A horde of students then rushed up to Jaemin as soon as he climbed down the stage, all of them congratulating him with a bow, smile, and a handshake. He saw Huang Renjun, the student from one of the two other parties who was running for the same position as him, crying to his friends like a little kid who lost in a game.

“Look at him,” Taeyong muttered, his eyes piercing through the through the group of people he hated, watching some of them cry because of defeat, “he’s so pathetic. I can’t believe he’s delusional enough to run in the same position as you. He’s really nothing but a short, snaggletoothed, little skank who obsesses over stuffed toy.”

“True,” Jaemin responded, crossing his arms on his chest. “I bet you he probably knows he’s not gonna win but he ran anyway just to get Lee Jeno’s sympathy. What an attention whore, honestly. The way he acts like Lee Jeno is interested in him makes me cringe. It’s clear that if Lee Jeno were to pick between being his boyfriend or getting crucified, the boy would probably order the thickest cross in Amazon. But I guess, they’d look good together because they’re both useless.”

“And if that’s not really the case, does he really think he’s going to win against you?” Taeyong huffed out a breath, his eyebrows sharp as a knife. “He’s friends with Haechan Lee. We all know that that guy only brings misfortune to those people around him. He’s a tragedy.”

While observing the Renjun’s partylist, Jaemin noticed that the elected president of the student council, Jung Jaehyun, was making his way to them. The latter had his hands inside his pockets, striding his way with confidence and poise. By the time Jaehyun was in front of them, he looked at Jaemin before staring at Taeyong intently. He then shifted his eyes back to Jaemin and offered his hand with a sly smile.

“Congratulations to us,” Jaehyun firmly said with an edge in his voice. Jaemin took it, smiling disingenuously to his senior before shaking the offered hand and congratulating him. “I hope we can work in unison for the betterment of our school.”

By the time Jaehyun had let go of Jaemin’s hand, he faced Taeyong, whose eyebrows were creased, giving him the death glare. But he didn’t falter and remained calm and composed instead. He offered his smile and a hand for Taeyong to take, but the latter just stared at it and huffed out a breath incredulously.

“Cut the crap out, Jung,” Taeyong spat aggressively, to which Jaehyun responded with a light, mocking chuckle.

“Why are you so hostile, Lee?” Jaehyun asked in a taunting manner. “Why can’t you be more like Jaemin here?”

“Don’t drag Jaemin into this.”

“What, I’m not even saying anything bad about Jaemin. I don’t even get why he hangs out with the likes of you,” Jaehyun remarked, putting his arm around Jaemin and giving Taeyong a condescending smile. “Anyway, I just really wanted to congratulate you guys. Say it to Xiao Dejun for me.”

“How thoughtful of you,” Taeyong cooed in pretense, crossing his arms on his chest before faking a smile. “Make sure to pass on my condolences to your ambitious, little goblins for losing the election. The only reason you and Kim Dongyoung won is because those who voted for you lack better judgment.”

“And the only reason you won is because of your pretty face,” Jaehyun retorted back, giving another condescending smile before turning his back on his heels and walking back to his friends.

With mouth agape, Jaemin watched the Jaehyun retreating figure, suppressing his laugh. “That was so weird. It’s like a combo of insult and compliment.”

“Fucking Jung Jaehyun.” 

“Does he have a thing for you, hyung?” he asked in curiosity, his brows furrowed in wonder. “If you don’t like him, could you give him to me instead?”

“What the fuck?” came a vulgar question from Taeyong.

“What?” Jaemin asked innocently, blinking at Taeyong. “He’s hot.”

“Since when did you become such a whore?”

“When you took me under your wing.” Jaemin suppressed another laugh that was threatening to come out. He didn’t want to anger Taeyong further, knowing how little patience the latter has.

The students began to disperse, some of them on their way home while some staying within the school premises. Another horde of students walked up to him, congratulated him, and even took pictures with him. He gave them another charming smile before parting ways. As he whipped his head toward where he thought his friends were, Jaemin saw Lee Jeno staring at him intently.

Lee Jeno was no longer with his friends. There he was, leaning against the wall, his one foot vandalizing it. His eyes were fixated on Jaemin, not blinking, not faltering. It was a gaze that of a predator patiently waiting for his prey, which made the latter unsettled.

Because of that, Jaemin felt uneasy. Could it be that Lee Jeno heard what he said to Taeyong? But that couldn’t be. Lee Jeno was meters away from him, trying to comfort Huang Renjun from an election loss. In order to establish that he wasn’t afraid, Jaemin stared back, his eyes not leaving the figure several steps away from him. To be honest, he felt nervous, but he didn’t want Lee Jeno to think that the latter could scare him. He has a hunch that Lee Jeno already knows his true colors, given that the raven-haired guy was friends with his former best friend and former crush, Haechan Lee and Mark Lee, respectively.

A couple of seconds later, Jaemin noticed Lee Jeno walked away without giving a single glance in his way. It wasn’t really the first time that raven-haired guy stared at him like that. In fact, ever since their freshman year, Lee Jeno had been like that, always watching him, always observing him. Maybe it’s because of his and Haechan’s major fallout. After all, Lee Jeno is a close friend of Haechan. But even then, when he and Haechan were still friends, he would always find Lee Jeno staring at him. The only difference is the stare is more of a friendly and longing one before the fallout. Nowadays, however, Lee Jeno’s stare felt sinister for some reason. Jaemin couldn’t blame him, taking into account how he basically outcasted Haechan.

Although they were both friends with Haechan before, Jaemin never really got to talk to Lee Jeno or hang out with him. They were both too shy to actually to start a conversation with each other, and it wasn’t like they were constantly around each other, since Haechan would only hang out with Jaemin alone or with his other friends, namely Lee Jeno, Huang Renjun, and Lucas Wong. Eventually, Mark Lee joined their clique when the latter and Haechan started dating.

But none of those matters now. Jaemin has already made friends with the ones he had a somewhat similar experience, the ones he can relate to for going through somewhat the same thing. Still, it was hard, considering that he, Dejun, Mark Lee, Haechan, Huang Renjun, Lucas Wong, and Lee Jeno are classmates.

“Jaemin,” Dejun called, gaining Jaemin’s attention, “let’s go. Taeyong-hyung and Ten-hyung are already outside.”

With another glance at the retreating figure of Lee Jeno, Jaemin mumbled under his breath, “Alright.”

-

“Jaem, congratulations! I’m so happy our hard work paid off!” was what Liu Yangyang said first thing in the morning as soon as he emerged through the doors of their homeroom, carrying a toothy smile. “You won… D-Does that mean we can go on a date today…?”

With a fake, restrained smile, Jaemin shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He had promised the guy that he’d go out with him if he wins, which he did, only if Liu Yangyang helped him with the campaign.

Liu Yangyang was basically the one who did everything. It was as if the guy of Chinese descent was the one running for a seat in the student council. He was the one who edited Jaemin’s campaign posters, which he and a few of his friends posted all over the campus, pamphlets that he tirelessly had given out to the students, and pubmats that he posted online using the Na Jaemin page that he himself created, as well.

With the desire to score a date, Liu Yangyang did everything to impress Jaemin; to show him that he is reliable and someone Jaemin can lean on in times of need. So, even though it meant spending lunch going around giving pamphlets and staying longer in school to campaign for Jaemin, he did it. Even when Jaemin himself wasn’t even present in some of his campaign, Liu Yangyang was there to be his representative.

It was pretty early, with only a handful of students around. Some of them were either sleeping or talking to their seatmates. The sky was pastel blue, emitting a very calm and peaceful atmosphere, and the noise inside the room was more of a buzz. The only thing that was bothering Jaemin was how he could possibly escape Liu Yangyang. He stayed silent, looking at the hopeful expression of Liu Yangyang that annoyed him very much. How could anyone be that smiley so early in the morning?

“Yangyang, you see...” Jaemin started, shifting his eyes from the guy before him to his desk, tapping his fingers in anxiety.

“Nana,” a voice resounded from the front of the room. There Dejun was, his one hand carrying his tote bag while the other was inserted deep in his pocket.

Bingo.

“Dejun!” Jaemin immediately responded, smiling from ear to ear as he stood up, completely ignoring Liu Yangyang. “Are we still going to a noraebang later?”

“Huh?”

“Noraebang,” Jaemin repeated, giving Dejun the signal using his eyes, “aren’t we supposed to celebrate later…?”

“Oh.” Dejun nodded slowly in fake realization, shifting his eyes from Jaemin to Liu Yangyang who watched the exchange cluelessly. “Yeah, it’s still on. You should be there, and you’re not allowed to bring anyone along. It’s strictly just you, me, Ten-hyung, and Taeyong-hyung.”

“Is that so…?” Jaemin trailed off, looking at Liu Yangyang with a fake, saddened expression. “Sorry, Yangyang… I don’t think we can go out today. You don’t want to go on a date with me with anyone around, right?”

“Y-Yeah...”

“Maybe some other time?”

“M-Maybe some other time.” Liu Yangyang tried to smile, swallowing the lump in his throat as he turned away and went back to his seat, crestfallen.

Jaemin breathe a sigh of relief, slumping down to his seat. Of course, they don’t have plans. He just wanted to get rid of Liu Yangyang at the moment. Annoyed, he rolled his eyes at the guy subtly. He knew that this would happen, but what can he do? Liu Yangyang was the one who offered to help. Does it mean that he’s indebted to him? Of course not. But he didn’t say anything instead. Liu Yangyang is useful in all aspects, that’s why Jaemin is still dragging this on.

“You’re basically trapped,” Dejun taunted, chuckling to himself as he put his bag on his chair and sat beside Jaemin. “Why can’t you just get rid of him?”

“I need him for my homework and a lot of other things.”

“Wow, as if you don’t copy my homework.”

“Okay.” Jaemin faced Dejun in irritation. “But do you do the /other things?/”

Another chuckle resounded from Deun.

“I figured,” Jaemin pointed out.

“Alright, alright.” Dejun held his hands up in the air, surrendering completely and not wanting to irritate Jaemin more. “But you should’ve just, I don’t know, use that sophomore guy, Park Jisung, or someone from your puppet collection to do the things Liu Yangyang did for you?”

“Liu Yangyang was the only one available.”

“As if you care about that though?” Dejun mockingly asked. “Don’t you normally talk them into doing things you want them to do?”

“Yeah, but Jisung wasn’t available, and I didn’t want to waste my energy convincing him to drop whatever it was he was supposed to do during that time period when Liu Yangyang was presenting himself.”

“Well, then take responsibility for your actions.”

“You know what, if I were you, I’d just drop him completely. I mean, you have a lot of people who are worshipping you. It makes no sense that you still keep him around when you get annoyed by him most of the time.”

“Although he is annoying most of the time and often asks me on a date, he’s actually very useful compared to my little minions who know nothing but to talk nonstop like the little shit they are. I have to utilize my resources.”

“There goes your enemy,” Dejun muttered, his eyes fixated on the figure that just walked in through the doors.

Jaemin glanced to see who it was, and there Huang Renjun was, looking like the latter hadn’t gotten an ounce of sleep. Chuckling internally at the misery of Huang Renjun, knowing that the Chinese guy had been wanting to be a part of the student council, he stood up from his seat and made his way to Huang Renjun before the latter could even sit down.

“Hey,” Jaemin called softly, earning Huang Renjun’s attention. The latter’s eyes looked nothing like usual. He though, Huang Renjun’s eyes have always been fucked up but not as fucked up as they were at that moment. “Sorry, I wasn’t able to come up to you, but I just want to congratulate you for putting up a good fight. It’s sad that we had to go against each other. I hope that there’s no bad blood between us.”

Huang Renjun smiled through the pain, which Jaemin didn’t miss. “It’s alright. I should be the one apologizing. I wasn’t able to congratulate you because I was crying too much. Congratulations, by the way. I know you’ll be able to fulfill the role. And no, I’m not taking it personally.”

“I’m glad.” Jaemin pulled a sweet smile in pretense. “And I’ll try my best to prove to you that you didn’t just lose for nothing.”

But of course, Jaemin won’t. In all honesty, he didn’t really want to run for the seat. Hell, it wasn’t even in his mind until he overheard Huang Renjun and his friends talking about how the latter how important it is for the boy and how he would surely win in the elections if he runs. And because Jaemin is petty and hates anyone associated with Haechan, he decided that it would be fun to play with Huang Renjun’s emotions.

Jaemin knew how important it is to Huang Renjun, given that the latter would always talk about being in the student council, doing good deeds, and setting a good example to the entire student body. But Jaemin believes none of that. Jaemin believes that Huang Renjun spews all those idealistic acts to push the agenda that he is a model student who should be looked up to. The truth is, he’s none of that, Jaemin firmly believes.

Huang Renjun is a useless piece of garbage who needs to be put in his place.

“Is there a problem here?” came a deep voice from behind. Lucas Wong.

Turning around, Jaemin was met by a pair of unwelcoming eyes, as if trying to dominate him. However, he just looked at the guy before him and offered a sweet, sinister smile. “Nothing, really. Renjun and I are just having a little chat.”

But it seemed like Lucas Wong didn’t buy what he said. “I don’t believe you.”

“Lucas, no — ”

Jaemin tilted his head in innocence, looking at Lucas Wong with a slight pout playing on his lips. Making his voice a little louder for everyone to hear, Jaemin accusingly said, “Lucas, I’m not doing anything wrong. What are you trying to say?”

He made sure that his voice was quivering a bit, and that everyone inside the room could hear it. Subtly, Jaemin shifted his eyes from Lucas Wong to his surroundings. And just as he expected, everybody was looking at Lucas Wong like the latter was the bad guy.

“That’s enough.” Lee Jeno’s voice was firm as he emerged through the doors, dragging both Huang Renjun and Lucas Wong to the back of the classroom where their clique is seated, without looking back.

Jaemin watched as Lee Jeno sat in his seat, composed himself and looked at him like a detective trying to find the culprit in a crime scene. He couldn’t help the smirk forming on his lips, but he was still able to suppress it. Being in the theater arts club really pays off.

/What are you going to do, Lee Jeno?/

-

The following days since winning the student council electing and being sworn into the tresorial seat were amazing. Jaemin felt a little more powerful than he already was. A lot of his juniors would always greet him every time he passes by, but the number of them drastically increased in just a short amount of time. As expected, those little minions are all over him, which means he has more people to control and manipulate into doing things that would benefit him. However, there’s been one person that’s bothering him: Lee Jeno.

It feels like Lee Jeno is keeping an eye on him, and it honestly bothers Jaemin. Everywhere he goes, Lee Jeno appears like mushrooms after the rain —in the cafeteria, in the bathroom, in the library, at the school grounds, in the student center, in the faculty, in the hallway, you name it, Lee Jeno is always there.

For the most part, Jaemin is trying to ignore the obvious piercing gaze coming from Lee Jeno, although it’s becoming a little too inconvenient, like when he’s planning on doing something, he chooses to no longer do it because of Lee Jeno’s presence. It’s making him uneasy.

“I don’t really know what’s with him,” Jaemin whispered to Taeyong as they, Ten and Dejun included, sat at a table inside the cafeteria. “I know he’s always been a creep, but I never knew he was this creepy.”

A couple of tables away, Lee Jeno had his fixated on Jaemin. The guy wasn’t even being discreet. He was just staring at Jaemin with hardened expression as his friends laughed at something Jaemin couldn’t make out of.

“Well, did you do something for him to act that way to you?” Taeyong fired back. “I know Lee Jeno. He’s very reserved and calm. He wouldn’t be so worked up over nothing.”

“Sorry to break it to you, hyung, but I didn’t do anything to him. To his friends, maybe. But to him?” Jaemin asked incredulously. “He doesn’t get in my way, nor does he do anything for me to target him. At the very least, he’s actually the one I don’t mind in their group.”

“Maybe he has a crush on you…?” Ten chimed in, popping a mandu inside his mouth.

“If that’s the truth, I can’t blame him.” Jaemin subtly smirked, propping his chin on the knuckles of his intertwined fingers. “He’s like really hot. I’d consider dating him if he stops hanging out with those rats.”

And it was the truth. In all honesty, Jaemin would date Lee Jeno if the latter wasn’t friends with Haechan, Mark Lee, Lucas Wong, and Huang Renjun. The guy is smart, responsible, and handsome. He didn’t really mean it when he said Lee Jeno is useless. He was just annoyed at how the guy is always with Huang Renjun and how Huang Renjun takes advantage of it. To be fair though, Lee Jeno is very reliable, especially when it comes to being the class monitor and representative of their class.

Lee Jeno looks cold, overbearing, and untouchable, but from what Jaemin have seen all these years, he is nothing along those lines. He’s thoughtful of those around him, helpful of those who need it, and friendly to those who deserve it. It’s just too bad that he chose to be friends with those whom Jaemin thinks as enemies.

One of the things Jaemin also noticed is that Lee Jeno is very protective of his friends, which annoys him greatly because Huang Renjun seems to love the attention and take advantage of it. What a whore. Every single time one of Lee Jeno’s friends is involved in something, the latter always makes a way for it to not escalate. Lee Jeno always kills the fire before it even spreads, and that’s something Jaemin admires about him. But of course, Jaemin will never say any of those things to Lee Jeno.

The only thing that puts Jaemin off about Lee Jeno is that the raven-haired guy seems to have a deep hatred toward him for what he did to Haechan, hence the never ending saga of throwing daggers at him. He tries to ignore it, really, but there are times when Jaemin is just so over it that he stares back and rolls his eyes.

“Don’t let Liu Yangyang hear that,” Dejun retorted, chuckling to himself. “He’s naturally happy-go-lucky, but he gets batshit crazy. I’m sure with the amount of things he’s done for you, he wouldn’t like the thought of you dating Jeno.”

“It’s not my fault he’s stupid,” Jaemin said with a laugh, staring back at Lee Jeno with a condescending smile.

“Since our discussion took almost the entire period, I’ll let you guys take home these worksheets. I expect you all to pass them by the end of our class tomorrow,” Mr. Ok told the class in finality as the last bell rang, signalling for the dismissal of the last period that day.

The rest of the class started packing their belongings, while Jaemin stayed rooted in his seat, mentally exhausted from all the numbers he had to deal with. He heaved a deep sigh, moving in a leisure manner as he placed his notebook and mechanical pen inside his backpack. Beside him, Dejun was shaking his head.

“You act as if we just finished a major exam,” Dejun commented, noticing Jaemin’s tired expression.

“Shut up,” Jaemin retorted back, slapping Dejun threateningly as he rolled his eyes, “just because my brain doesn’t work as efficient as yours, doesn’t mean you can just drag me down anytime you want.”

“I never dragged you, though.”

“I may not be academically intelligent, but I’m not fucking dumb, you bitch,” Jaemin said in aggression, which earned him a laugh from his friend. When he saw Dejun stood up, looking like about to leave without him, Jaemin asked, “Aren’t you going to wait for me?”

“I can’t,” Dejun replied. “Our relatives just arrived from China, so my parents wanted me home as soon as possible today. Besides, it’s your cleaning duty today.”

“I can just ask Yangyang to do it for me.”

“You can’t always ask him to do that for you.”

“Shut up, just leave. You’re starting to annoy me.” Jaemin shooed his friend who waved at him in mockery.

As Dejun exited the room, Jaemin saw that Lee Jeno, together with his friends, also left the room but not before giving him another look that he’d gotten used to over the past weeks. Now, it was just him a couple of his classmates, including Liu Yangyang who looked like he was about to leave.

“Hey… C-Can you cover for me…?” Jaemin called softly, giving Liu Yangyang the most fragile look in his eyes that he could give. “I really need to get home right now... so, I would really appreciate it if you can cover for me.”

Liu Yangyang scratched his nape, finding the right words to say. “You see, Jaemin, I need to go down the building… I’m assigned to help building one of the booths for the foundation day next week. I really want to cover for you. Hell, you don’t even have to ask me to do it for you, but not now… I’m really needed right now. I hope you can understand.”

“Is that so…?” Jaemin trailed off, purposely making the sound of his voice decline and smiling wistfully to convince Yangyang to change his mind. “Alright...but thanks anyway.”

“I gotta go now,” Liu Yangyang said, checking his wristwatch before giving Jaemin a smile and a wave and storming off the room.

As soon as Liu Yangyang was out of sight, Jaemin clenched his jaws in annoyance, clicking his tongue as he grumbled under his breath, “What a useless piece of shit.”

In the end, he had no choice but to do his duty. He, along with some of his classmates who were on duty that day, cleaned the entire room by wiping the floor, desks, chairs, whiteboard, windows, walls, and even the ceiling. They also arranged some of the papers in boxes and documents inside the cabinets. Fortunately, the said classmates didn’t let Jaemin be the one to clean in the bathroom the dirty rags that were used.

Jaemin sat on one of the chairs as soon as he and his classmates finished cleaning, panting heavily as beads of sweat trailed down his forehead and sideburns. His classmates then bid him goodbye, waving at him and thanking him for working hard. For a couple of minutes, Jaemin stared at the ceiling, just resting until he was no longer too weary to walk. His entire body was covered in sweat underneath his uniform, making him feel icky and sticky.

Shortly after he regained his strength back, Jaemin put the straps of his backpack on his shoulders as he emerged from the room to the hallway. It took him about several minutes by the time he managed to get out of the school premises. Normally, he goes home with Dejun, sometimes with Ten and Taeyong when they aren’t busy which is a rare occurrence, provided that the two are in their senior.

Seven minutes into a walking, as Jaemin was about to turn into a corner, he was roughly pinned to a wall, his back hitting the cold, hard surface of bricks. Jaemin flinched at the sudden pain, his breath hitching when he came face to face with his attacker.

“L-Lee Jeno…?” came Jaemin’s wobbly response to the sudden attack. “W-What are you d-doing…?”

Unlike his usual withdrawn and self-contained self, Lee Jeno had seething eyes, almost as if he wanted to kill Jaemin right there, right then, which greatly frightened the latter. Nobody, and Jaemin means nobody, has ever had the guts to assault him like that, let alone in broad daylight.

Jaemin couldn’t really do anything. One of Lee Jeno’s hands was beside his head, propped against the wall. The only resort was to run away, but that wouldn’t be a smart of a choice since Lee Jeno is part of the track team, and the raven-haired guy is probably one of the, if not, the best among the team. He had never been so scared in his life until that moment. Nobody was there to help him, and he could only rely on himself.

“You did it on purpose, no?” Lee Jeno asked dangerously, his voice full of venom. Jaemin had never seen him like that. “You’re deliberately trying to fuck my friends over, aren’t you?”

“N-No,” Jaemin lied. It wasn’t like he had a choice to tell the truth anyway. If he did that, he’d be fucked. “W-What’s this all a-about anyway…?”

“You heard how much being part of the student council means for Renjun,” Lee Jeno said, his voice sultry. “Don’t you dare even try denying it. I won’t fall for your lies, you lying freak. You did it just for laughs, didn’t you? You never even probably thought of being part of the council.”

“J-Jeno, you’re being irrational.” Jaemin tried to laugh, but it came out like he was trying to look tough but failing miserably. Lee Jeno’s breathing became heavier, causing it to fan over Jaemin’s lips. “I-I did it b-because I’m very passionate about making o-our school a better place.”

“You really think I’d fall for that?”

“No, I don’t!” Jaemin suddenly cried out, tears starting to emerge from from the corner of his eyes. “I-I just really liked the thought of becoming a part of the council. I w-wanted to be a model student for other students. B-Besides, he could just re-run next school year, r-right…?”

His tears, matched by hiccups and sniffling, was pretty convincing enough that Lee Jeno let his guard down. Lee Jeno’s eyes softened for a split second, and there wasn’t any other time for Jaemin to act. Taking advantage of Lee Jeno’s sudden vulnerability, Jaemin drew his foot before kicking Lee Jeno in the shin as hard as he could and pushing him to the ground, resulting in Lee Jeno scraping his elbows.

Jaemin ran as fast as he could even though Lee Jeno didn’t come after him. He ran and ran and ran until he could see the figure of his family’s apartment building. It felt as if his heart had evaporated by the time he reached his home, and his legs were so sore he had to stay in bed all day to ease the pain he was feeling.

Of course, Jaemin wouldn’t just let Lee Jeno off the hook. He will definitely get back at him. He stared at the wall of his room, fuming in anger, before he threw a pillow and screamed in frustration. How dare Lee Jeno do that to him? The latter should be thankful that there weren't any students around, because if there were, that hot punk would probably be the talk of the school for messing with him. And Jaemin would’ve made sure that Lee Jeno will be castrated by everyone.

So, the next day, Jaemin sat on his seat all day long, thinking of different ways to get his revenge at the rave-haired guy whose eyes were resting at the back of his head. He’s decided that he’s going to give Lee Jeno a hard time until the latter breaks.

It was their last class, and he couldn’t wait to finally get out. He and the rest of the student council were to meet up for a meeting regarding the approaching foundation day and the school festival that was scheduled a week after the foundation day. Since the annual festival is a week long, Jaemin couldn’t wait for it so he could have fun and not think about sitting in a boring class, waiting for the bell to ring.

“Na Jaemin,” Mr. Ok called, snapping Jaemin out of his trance.

“Y-Yes, Mr. Ok?” Jaemin asked in response.

“Collect everyone’s worksheets. I’m needed in the faculty right now, so I’m leaving you the responsibility. If anyone doesn’t pass their worksheets, tell me,” Mr. Ok told Jaemin, gathering his belongings from the teacher table, and shifting his eyes from one area of the class to another. “We still have thirty minutes, but I have to leave now. Class dismissed.”

As soon as those words were uttered, Mr. Ok left the room, while Jaemin stood up, brought out his own worksheets, and started collecting everyone else’s. Sometimes, he really hates how teachers turn him into a teacher’s pet just because he’s liked by everyone. Just like now, he had to deliver all those stupid worksheets to the faculty. As his classmates passed him their worksheets, however, he came across Lee Jeno and his friends.

Lee Jeno’s clique handed theirs, but the latter just stared at Jaemin with those familiar dark, icy eyes boring into his soul. Jaemin, not wanting to let himself be fall for Lee Jeno’s antics, stared right back, not backing down before Lee Jeno finally gave his own worksheets but without breaking eye contact. Jaemin snatched it from the older’s hands, turned around sassily, and walked arrogantly away.

“What was that?” Dejun whispered with a laugh at his friend who looked like he was about to hunt down a wild animal. “You and Lee Jeno looked like you wanna have a go just now.”

“What the fuck, if you don’t stop speaking nonsense, I’m going to slap you out of this building,” Jaemin snapped, arranging all the papers in alphabetical order after sitting down beside Dejun. “I’ve been wanting to tell you something, but I can’t because reasons. You better come with me to the faculty. I don’t wanna be left alone.”

“Damn, is it serious?”

“Damn right, it is.” Jaemin slammed the bulks of paper on their desk, discreetly singling out Lee Jeno’s papers as he subtly wandered his eyes for possible witness of what he was about to do. “Come on.”

They both stood up and exited the room along with their classmates who were taking their leave. When they were halfway across the hallway, however, Jaemin looked both ways before dragging Dejun by the arm into the bathroom which took the latter by surprise. He then gave to Dejun the worksheets before entering one of the bathroom stalls.

“What are you doing?” Dejun asked in confusion when he saw Jaemin clutching onto Lee Jeno’s worksheets with an evil glint in his eyes. “You’re not about to do what I’m thinking… are you?”

Jaemin just smirked, tearing the papers apart into tiny little pieces and crumpling them, and then throwing them into the toilet. He then used one of his feet in flushing the toilet, now all the possible traces of Lee Jeno’s worksheets gone. With a sigh of relief, Jaemin ironically dusted his hands off.

“You’re so evil.” Dejun chuckled to himself, looking at Jaemin in pure amusement. “I like it.”

“Well, he shouldn’t have messed with me,” came Jaemin’s reply in triumph.

Before anyone could even enter the bathroom and see what they had done, they left the room, peeking sideways first upon departure. When they nobody, the two proceeded on their way to the faculty where Mr. Ok was waiting for Jaemin, typing on his computer pivotally.

“Sir?” Jaemin called softly, smiling at his teacher as soon as they made eye contact. “These are all the worksheets you told me to collect.”

“Oh, thank you, Jaemin.” Mr. Ok smiled, flashing his pearly white teeth, taking the papers from Jaemin’s grasp.

“Is that all, Mr. Ok?”

“Yes, you can take your leave now. Thank you.”

Jaemin took his leave, rolling his eyes shortly after he’d turned around and saw nobody in particular. On their way out of the building, Jaemin told Dejun what went down between him and Lee Jeno the day before, which, in all honesty, shocked Dejun, considering Lee Jeno is fairly a cool-headed person and often stays out of trouble.

“You’re not shitting on me, are you?” Dejun asked, trying to find a single trace of lie in Jaemin’s eyes. However, he saw none. “Wait, you’re serious?”

“You think I’m going to make those shit up?”

“Well, for starters, you fucking would.”

“Bitch, there’s no point lying to you. We pretty much know everything about each other,” Jaemin pointed out which had Dejun nodding his head yes. “But yeah, I can’t believe it either, but he looked so fucking hot, I’m not gonna lie. His face was so close to me, and I could feel his breath. I’m so frustrated. Sometimes, I wish he wasn’t friends with Haechan Lee and Haechan Lee’s ugly little gnomes.”

“Wow, you talk like you and his friends have a drastic height difference. Just a reminder, Huang Renjun is the only one in their clique whom you’re taller than. You’re only a point meter or two taller than Haechan and Mark Lee, respectively, while Lee Jeno is taller than you by a point meter. And Lucas Wong is literally six feet in height.”

“Have you ever heard of figurative speech?” Jaemin sassily questioned. “But enough of that. He actually looks so scary, but he’s, like, really, really hot. His arms are so thick, and his veins are bulging! Don’t even get me started with his biceps. He makes horny.”

“Okay, let me get this straight,” Dejun said. “You want to shag him, but you also want him to leave his friends for you. Sounds like a personal problem to me.”

“Well, ideally, yeah,” Jaemin retorted back. “But I don’t really expect him to do that, because he loves sucking up to those bastards, especially to that whore, Huang Renjun. You have no idea how much that bitch annoys me. He always acts as if he is the second coming of Virgin Mary.”

“Mind your language,” Dejun scolded before pointing upward. “God is watching us.”

“Hallelujah.”

“Does Taeyong-hyung know this?”

“He doesn’t,” Jaemin replied, “because he doesn’t need to know. I’m sure once he finds out about it, he’d go batshit crazy at Jung Jaehyun for not teaching his favorite junior right manners. Honestly, I’m so over them. They find the tiniest reason to have a go with each other.”

“True, I wish they’d just have sex, so we can finally move on with our lives.” Dejun agreed. “Anyway, I’m sure you flushing Lee Jeno’s worksheets in the toilet isn’t the end of it. You probably do have a lot of things on your sleeves, don’t you?”

“I do,” came Jaemin’s response, smiling slyly as they hit the streets of Seoul.

-

“Lee Jeno, where’s your worksheets?” was Mr. Ok’s first sentence shortly after he entered the class, removing his messenger bag from his shoulder and placing it on the chair at the teacher’s table. “You’re the only one who has no worksheets.”

“Mr. Ok, there must be a mistake. I passed my worksheets to Na Jaemin before I left the classroom yesterday,” Lee Jeno said firmly as he stood up.

“Then, why can’t I find it?”

“I passed them, Mr. Ok. Actually, I was anticipating what time you would require us to pass them yesterday because I needed to get home early.”

“If you had passed it, then there’s no reason for them to be missing. I’m very cautious when it involves my students’ records. I can’t simply just misplace them. In my entire career, I have never lost anyone’s papers.”

“Could you check it again, Mr. Ok?” Lee Jeno asked carefully, his eyes shifting from their teacher to Jaemin who was trying to avoid his gaze. Mr. Ok then slammed the worksheets on the table in irritation, his eyes nothing like usual friendly eyes he sports, before going through the bulks of papers once again.

“No, not here.” Mr. Ok heaved a deep sigh in annoyance as the rest of the class kept mum about the whole thing. Students collectively agree that Mr. Ok Taecyeon is one of the kindest teachers in their school, but he could be just as terror as he is kind. It’s almost like extreme sides of the spectrum where he’s either gentle or frightening, no in between. “Try look for them inside your bag. Maybe you forgot to pass them to Jaemin yesterday.”

Nodding, Lee Jeno searched inside his bag, messing the neatly organized notebooks in the process. He looked for them in every secret zipper of his bag, but he found none. Of course, he was a hundred percent sure he passed it, but he did play along just to prove a point that his worksheets weren’t in his possession.

“They’re not here, Mr. Ok,” Lee Jeno told his teacher. “I’m very sure I handed it to Na Jaemin before I left.”

“Is it true, Jaemin?”

“Mr. Ok...” Jaemin answered, his gaze shifting from their teacher to Lee Jeno’s deathly gaze. “I-I don’t remember… I mean, I’m sure I would remember if he really did…”

“What!” Lucas Wong interjected, pointing his index finger accusingly at Jaemin. “You liar! Jeno passed his worksheets to you! I saw it with my own two eyes!”

“Hey, man!” Liu Yangyang stood up out of nowhere. “Don’t say that to Jaemin. He only did what he was tasked to do. Besides, there’s no reason for Jaemin to single out Jeno’s papers now, is there?”

“Yangyang, shut up,” Lucas Wong fumed, his eyes switching from Jaemin to Yangyang and then back to Jaemin. “You don’t know anything. I’m seriously so pissed right now. I can’t take it anymore. How can all of you not see how fake Na Jaemin is? He’s done a lot of shady things in the past that a lot of you choose to ignore!”

“Now, you’re just accusing him! Those things were groundless accusation just like what you’re accusing him!” Yangyang fired back, his blood boiling. How could anyone possibly say that to Jaemin? “If anything, it’s Haechan who spread those lies about himself to frame Jaemin the bad guy, but his plan backfired completely!”

“Leave Haechan out of this!” Mark Lee hissed, standing up threateningly.

“Pathetic,” Dejun muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. “Imagine protecting your boyfriend’s wrongdoing, I can’t relate.”

“Stop,” Lee Jeno dangerously low and rough voice, his face devoid of any emotion. “Jaemin, just please tell the truth.”

“W-What truth?!” Jaemin asked in a strangulated voice, his eyes moistening. He knew he had to force tears out of his eyes. It was the only diversionary tactic that would work in order for everyone to empathize with him. “Jeno, I-I don’t really know w-what you’re saying… I just-I just did what Mr. Ok told me to do… W-Why would I do that to y-you…?”

Lee Jeno stared at him, hard. As everyone says, if looks could kill, Jaemin would’ve been buried six feet under the ground. He wandered his eyes to the rest of the class, all eyes on him. He hiccuped, sniffled, and wiped his tears, making sure that his actions weren’t too much of an exaggeration to the point that nobody would believe him. Fortunately, everyone seemed to fall for it, even his teacher, Mr Ok. But of course, there were those who are immune to his acting, like Lee Jeno’s clique, Xiao Dejun who pretty much used to his antics by now, and lastly, Lee Jeno himself.

“Jaemin,” Lee Jeno started once again, “why would you do something like thi—”

“Enough,” Mr. Ok finally intervened. “You have no right to disrespect me in this class. I’m already tired from all the things I need to do for our visitors on foundation day, and all of you are giving me more headaches. Let’s put an end to this. Lee Jeno, come here, I will give you extra worksheets, pass it to me tomorrow.”

Clenching his jaws, Lee Jeno walked up to the teacher’s table, accepting the worksheets with a slight bow and an apology. Jaemin was still crying, his hiccups and sniffling realer than ever. As soon as, Lee Jeno got back to his seat and sat, Mr. Ok cleared his throat.

“Lee Jeno, I need you to apologize to Na Jaemin. This is the only time I’m letting you off the hook. You are the class monitor. If anything, you should be a model to the rest of the class. You shouldn’t be involved in troubles such as this.”

“But Mr. Ok, it wasn’t Jeno’s—” Lucas Wong tried to butt in.

“You, too, Wong Yukhei and Lee Minhyung,” the teacher reprimanded them. “You can’t just accuse someone of something and expect to get away with it. It doesn’t work like that.”

With every ounce of unwillingness in their body, the three collectively muttered, “Sorry.”

As soon as Jaemin heard that, he wiped his tears, smiling as genuinely as possible in pretense, making sure that everyone could see it before saying, “I-It’s alright… I-I know you guys are j-just probably f-frustrated about the whole thing… Now, Jeno has to re-do e-everything….”

“See?” Mr. Ok denoted. “The rest of you, learn from Na Jaemin. Be compassionate, sympathetic, and understanding. If everyone can be, even just the tiniest bit, like him, the world would be a far better place than it currently is right now.”

Dejun silently snickered.

“Anyway, I’ll go ahead now. Use the remaining time to talk about your plans on foundation day. Have you started building the booth? Wait, have you even conceptualized what kind of booth ours will be?”

“Yes, Mr. Ok.” Lee Jeno bowed his head, to which their homeroom teacher nodded.

“Alright, then I’m leaving to you, Lee Jeno, the rest of the class.” Mr. Ok put on his bag. “Class dismissed.”

Everyone in class began to murmur among each other shortly after Mr. Ok left the room, side eyeing Lee Jeno and his friends. The latter, however, stayed rooted to his seat, his gaze burning holes at the back of Jaemin’s head, both fists tightly clenched in fury. Slowly, Jaemin turned his head to Lee Jeno’s way, sporting a familiar smirk on his face, his eyes challenging Lee Jeno.

Jaemin’s eyes wandered the classroom to see if anyone was looking at him. When he saw that nobody was and that everyone’s attention were on Lee Jeno, he winked at the raven-haired guy in mockery to infuriate him even more, not knowing that Lee Jeno has finally had enough and is willing to do whatever it takes to get back at Jaemin.

-

The incident spread like wildfire within twenty-four hours, resulting to Jaemin earning sympathy points from everyone. He even posted something on SNS of how it all went down and said that it was simply a misunderstanding. As always, reverse psychology always works. Hours after posting it, he was bombarded with positive comments in line with him and negatives ones targeted toward Lee Jeno.

Over the remaining days of that week, Lee Jeno became the new target of the entire student body. People vandalized his desk, calling him out for being a liar and a bully to Na Jaemin. He was a constant subject to everyone’s gossip, often lumping with his friends who are, apparently, full of shit. If it weren’t for his friends, Lee Jeno would’ve probably lost his cool from all the side comments and the taunting he received. There was even one time where his bike got stolen, leaving without a choice but to walk home under the scorching sun. And through all that, Jaemin just watched blithely.

“You’re so reliable, Yangyang,” Jaemin slurred, glancing Liu Yangyang’s way as he watched Lee Jeno kick the post where the bike was previously, while Liu Yangyang stayed behind.

“A-Am I…?” Liu Yangyang asked nervously under Jaemin’s seductive gaze. He took a step back when he saw Jaemin walking toward him.

“You are… Maybe, you should really be given a reward…” Jaemin looked out for a potential witness around, but when he saw none, he looked at Liu Yangyang’s lips first before darting his eyes on the latter and leaning in aggressively, capturing his classmate’s lips.

It took Liu Yangyang a second or two before kissing back, savoring Jaemin’s lips because it was what he’d always envisioned doing ever since they started talking. Jaemin, however, was acting like he was so into when in fact, he just wanted it to be over. He had his eyes open, desperately wandering his eyes to spot a student in order to break the kiss. Liu Yangyang started being aggressive, biting his lower lip for an access into his mouth, but Jaemin kept it shut until he felt a squeeze in his ass which took him by surprise, causing him to open his mouth. At the corner of his eyes, he spotted a looming figure, so he pushed Liu Yangyang quite harshly, receiving a whine from the guy before him.

Jaemin was panting, trying to catch his breath. And when he recognized who it was, he felt a sense of fright. It was Lee Jeno with a phone on his hand, looking back at him with challenging eyes.

-

On foundation day, students happily roamed around the school grounds with their friends. It was a very bright day without too much sunlight, so students weren’t afraid to wander around. The school was blasting korean popular music, synchronized with the way the students from one place to another, talking and laughing, having the time of their lives. It is one of the events that is looked forward to, considering it is usually the day where the students get to have fun without worrying about academics for the day.

The school grounds was decorated with bright pastel colors and characters from popular Japanese animations, while booths, which were separated by a meter or two spaces, had a different concept of their own.

Jail booth was a booth that mainly operated by capturing students who’s in possession of something the emcee announced. They get to get out of the jail by either paying a fine or staying inside the jail for half an hour. Marriage booth, on the other hand, was a booth that weds two students and gives them a fake wedding certificate with wedding pictures while on wedding clothes by paying the supposed priest. Those were just two of the booths that operated. They even had a noraebang section in one of the corners despite the loud music. Of course, there was a makeshift restaurants which are called Pojangmacha, a substitute for the closed cafeteria.

The student council facilitated everything, mainly Jung Jaehyun, Kim Dongyoung, and Xiao Dejun, while Lee Taeyong and Jaemin wandered around the campus, enjoying the foundation day as if it wasn’t their duty to make sure everything was going smoothly.

“Oh my God,” Jaemin squealed, pointing at a booth in which you could spin the wheel and either win a prize or pay a fine. “I want to try that one!”

“No, let me try that one first!” Taeyong exclaimed, pointing at a booth in which you could throw a penny on a rectangular board and multiply your money or you fail and they get it.

“No, hyung, come with me first!”

“No, Jaemin, we can go wherever you want. Let me try that one first and then I’ll go wherever you go.”

“No!”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Ye—”

“Well, what about the two of you doing your duty, how does that sound?” Jung Jaehyun intervened, appearing from behind as he looked at the two. “You didn’t attend our meetings, and you have the audacity to enjoy the event. Have you no shame?”

“Jaehyun-hyung!” Jaemin cried out, clinging onto Jung Jaehyun muscular arm. “I actually wanted to attend our meetings, I swear, but Taeyong-hyung here told me that you guys can already handle everything, especially you. We know you can do it!”

“You won’t convince me with your sweet words. You have to tell me next time what happened between you and Jeno,” Jung Jaehyun scolded, pinching Jaemin’s cheek to which the latter pouted, before whipping his head at Taeyong who was looking at them with disgust on his face. “You, come with me.”

“Who are you to tell me what to do?” Taeyong bit back, crossing his arms on his chest, his eyes fiery.

“Well, as far as I know, I’m the president of the student council and you are the vice president. You’re basically under me. Besides, you’re already neglecting your duties. Do you want me to tell the entire student body what kind of a vice president you are?”

“Tsk,” came Taeyong’s reply, letting out a breath incredulously. “You think I’d fall for that?”

“Not really, but I expect you to fall for me,” Jung Jaehyun retorted, smirking at Taeyong’s obvious repugnance. He then inserted both of his hands inside his pockets. “So, let’s go?”

“Leave me the fuck alone.” Taeyong turned around and was about to walk away when he was suddenly pulled by Jung Jaehyun by the arm. He tried to shake off the student council president’s grasp from his arm, wriggling and hitting Jung Jaehyun by the chest. To his dismay, however, it was of no use.

“Will you come with me or I’ll kiss you, which do you prefer?”

“Hyung, don’t say that,” Jaemin jested. “Taeyong-hyung will keep resisting if that’s the case.”

“Na Jaemin!”

“Go, go, go!” Jaemin urged. “Bring him with you! Have a wonderful date!”

“What date?!” Taeyong exclaimed. “Hey, Jaemin! You come with us, too!”

“You can go, Jaemin,” Jaehyun declared, looking at Taeyong intensely. “Just come to the student council booth after the event. Don’t even think of escaping. This will be my last warning.”

“Okay, hyung!” Jaemin saluted, giving the two a huge smile. “Please, enjoy your date!”

“What!” Taeyong exclaimed in anger, hitting Jaehyun once again as he glared at Jaemin. “You, brat! You can’t just leave me with this prick! Come back here, I’ll kill you!”

“Sorry, hyung!” Jaemin smiled, waving at his Taeyong-hyung who was being dragged by Jung Jaehyun.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Jaemin went on to enjoy the day, going to every single booth except those of which he needed a partner to participate in. He also tried the rice cakes that one of his freshmen followers made. At one point, he was dragged into the marriage booth to wed with Liu Yangyang who, mostly likely, thought that there’s something going on between them because of the kiss. Nonetheless, Jaemin just played along with it.

Almost an hour later, he decided to go to the bathroom on the ground floor inside their school building. It was, however, packed with students. Because of that, Jaemin decided to use the one on the second floor, thinking that there’d be no students there. And he was right. Upon entering the bathroom, he washed his hands and dried it with the hand dryer. As he was using it, however, the bathroom floor opened, revealing the person he wasn’t expecting to see.

Lee Jeno.

“W-What are you doing here?” Jaemin’s voice quivered in fear. His heart almost stopped when Lee Jeno closed the door and locked it. “W-Why did you lock it…?”

“You know what,” Lee Jeno started, stepping forward as Jaemin walked back, his eyes dark and sinister, “I’ve been holding back for so long. I genuinely, /genuinely/ hate people like you who play with other people’s emotions. You think you can do that to me and just get away with it?”

“O-Okay, J-Jeno, whatever it is I did, I’m sorry, okay?” Jaemin bargained, his back finally hitting the wall. Lee Jeno walked closer, trapping him in between his arms.

“Sorry?” Jeno laughed humorlessly. “You think sorry would be enough repercussion to all the inconvenience you’ve caused me?”

“O-Okay, then w-what do you wa—”

Before Jaemin could even finish his sentence, he felt a pair of lips against his own. It was harsh, almost unrelenting, yet the taste was sweet and something he could probably want for the rest of his life. Three seconds—it was exactly three seconds before he realized what was happening. Never in a million years would he thought of actually kissing Lee Jeno. He was about to kiss back when he felt a pair hands roaming his body, as if searching for something like he was a criminal. Seconds later, he felt his ass getting squeezed. Jaemin felt Lee Jeno’s tongue swiping down his lower lip, causing him to open up his mouth. Lee Jeno dove right in without, tasting every corner of his mouth, savoring the taste of his tongue, his saliva—everything.

Jaemin enjoyed it so much that he almost didn’t want it to stop. On instinct, his arms found themselves around Lee Jeno’s neck, pulling the latter closer to deepen their already sensual kiss. This time, Jaemin was giving the amount of passion Lee Jeno was giving him. He then tried to stick his tongue inside Lee Jeno’s mouth, but the raven-haired guy fought back by having his own tongue meet Jaemin’s halfway, asserting his dominance.

In frustration, Jaemin leisurely put his hands on Lee Jeno’s hair, pulling on them because of the arousal he was feeling in his crotch area. He could already feel his cock trying to break free from the fabric of his underwear.

They exchanged saliva like it was the most normal thing in the world. Jaemin’s cock kept on hardening as Lee Jeno continued sucking not only on his lips but also his tongue. Since it was only the two of them and the walls blocked all the noise from outside, the sound of them kissing was ricocheting against the walls, making the both of them hornier.

Jaemin whined when Lee Jeno broke the kiss, to which he earned a breathy smirk from the latter. He was taken aback when he felt the raven-haired guy’s lips on his neck and arms around his waist, showering his neck with open-mouthed kisses first before nibbling, sucking, and biting on the kiss, leaving him with hickeys all over the place. Lee Jeno kept abusing his neck as he held onto the older’s hair.

“A-ah!” Jaemin moans were restrained, afraid that someone could potentially hear them from the outside. “J-Jeno...”

“What?” Jeno whispered sensually to Jaemin’s ear. “You can moan all you want. Nobody would hear you.”

“I-I’m sorry!” Jaemin cried out when Lee Jeno nibbled quite harshly on his neck and biting it. “I-I p-promise I won’t ever do it t-to you again!”

“You can’t fool me, Na Jaemin,” Jeno responded, biting Jaemin’s earlobe after giving it a few taunting licks. “I have decided. I won’t ever fall for your antics again. I will make sure to avenge myself and my friends.”

“B-But—”

“You better not do anything shady ever again,” Lee Jeno lowly whispered to his ear, making his spine shiver in fear, “because if you do, it may just be the end of you.”

-

“Okay, seriously, what’s wrong with you?” Dejun interrogated. “You’ve been sorta off these days. Did you get in trouble or something?”

“N-No…” Jaemin pulled a forced smile, glancing warily around him. “M-Maybe it’s because of the upcoming exam...”

Seated inside the cafeteria, Jaemin couldn’t help but feel distracted. It’s been a couple of days since that incident inside the school bathroom between him and Lee Jeno. Truthfully, it’s been bothering him since then. Not the kiss, no. If anything, he liked the kiss. No, he loved it. The kiss was so amazing, so sinful. In fact, Jaemin has been thinking about it every night. He’s been thinking about Lee Jeno’s ragged breath, Lee Jeno’s lips molding against his, Lee Jeno’s eyes piercing though him, undressing him, Lee Jeno’s mouth latching on his neck, leaving him with hickeys for other people to see, Lee Jeno manhandling him, Lee Jeno dominating.

All he could ever think about is Lee Jeno, Lee Jeno, and Lee Jeno.

It’s making Jaemin crazy.

Earlier he could feel Lee Jeno’s stare. He didn’t know how, he just felt it. Their eyes met at one point when Jaemin turned around once. The stare, this time however, wasn’t driven by loathing. Lee Jeno’s eyes were observant, full of scrutiny, as if the latter was reading his every move. And frankly, it made Jaemin feel things. Things he shouldn’t even feel inside their homeroom.

The previous night, he was so horny and couldn’t stop thinking about Lee Jeno that he got off with the thought in mind of what incident that happened between him and Lee Jeno. He felt so ashamed, but he just couldn’t help it.

Now, he can’t even look at Lee Jeno in the eye. At the same time, he’s on watch just in case the raven-haired guy is around.

“If I didn’t know you’re a picky one,” Ten started, popping a piece of pork belly into his mouth, “I’d think you whore yourself out and are afraid that you’d see the guy you slept with last night.”

“No, what the hell?” Jaemin exclaimed defensively. “Hyung, if there was a whore here, it’s probably you. You basically lead on Johnny Seo and Hendery Wong. At least Taeyong-hyung here has the decency to play hard to get to Jung Jaehyun.”

“I’m not playing hard to get to Jung Jaehyun, though?” Taeyong interjected. “I don’t fucking like that shithead, and he doesn’t like me either. He’s actually worse than all of you combined.”

“Okay, you didn’t have to come for us like that. You keep saying you hate him, but why did I see you with inside the marriage booth during the foundation day?” Ten then turned to Jaemin. “And you, hag, I’m not leading them on. They’re fighting over me, as they should.”

“Poor guys. I hope they hit their head with a hammer to realize you ain’t shit.”

“Whatever, we’ll see you in class,” Dejun said dismissively, dragging Jaemin to their homeroom.

“Don’t forget our meeting in the office later, alright?!” Taeyong yelled as Jaemin and Dejun disappeared into the hallway.

Not having the strength to pull himself away from Dejun’s grasp, he let himself be dragged to their homeroom before the bell even rang. When he arrived, he immediately spotted Lee Jeno, earning his attention when he emerged from outside. Jaemin blushed when the raven-haired guy licked his own lips, his gaze boring into him. As if on instinct, Jaemin gulped, quickly taking his seat beside Dejun, trying to brush off the feeling of someone staring at the back of his head again.

Jaemin tried to focus on the discussions. For the rest of the classes he had that day after lunch, he searched for ways in order to focus and focus solely on whatever his teachers were talking about, even if they bore the hell out of him. However, the incident in the bathroom kept clawing from the back of his head, distracting him. And the feeling of someone staring at him, who, by the way was the reason he was having those thoughts, wasn’t helping either.

So, he pretty much spent the rest of his day in class getting distracted by that memory, growing a tent inside his pants that, fortunately for him, nobody noticed.

“Hey... hey!”

With that, Jaemin snapped out of his own reverie. It turned out Dejun has been calling him, and that the last bell had rung. It was so unreal. He didn’t even hear the bell. Just how could you do this, Lee Jeno?

Leisurely, he turned his head, making eye contact with the person who’s the main subject of his inappropriate daydreams. Lee Jeno smirked before turning away and focusing his attention to his friends who were talking about going in a Noraebang.

“Hey, let’s go.” Dejun grabbed his bag, putting the strap on his shoulder. “You have no idea how mad Jung Jaehyun gets every time you and Taeyong-hyung aren’t present in our meetings.”

“...He probably just uses that so he can annoy Taeyong-hyung more...” Jaemin trailed off distractedly.

“True, come on. Let’s just go, and then we can go grab something on the way home. I feel so hungry again, ugh. I hate metabolism.”

Immediately after arriving inside the student council office, Jaemin took a seat beside Dejun. He settled himself comfortably, smiling at the other students. There was a conference table with chairs around, occupied by the student council officers, waiting for the vice president to come. But that didn’t happen until a couple more minutes, and the president still refused to start with the meeting.

“Finally,” the president, Jung Jaehyun, exclaimed upon seeing Taeyong enter the room, “I thought you weren’t going to come. What a nice vice president we have. It’s your first time attending, right?”

“I got held up.” Taeyong rolled his eyes, placing his bag quite aggressively on the seat beside Jaemin’s.

“By?”

“Some freshmen.”

“You must be pretty popular,” Jaehyun incredulously, smiling tauntingly. “After all, you’re a pretty responsible leader, right…?”

“Can we just get this done with?” Qian Kun, one of the elected sergeants at arms, intervened awkwardly, his eyes shifting. “I kinda need to go somewhere after this.”

“Alright,” Jaehyun muttered in finality, wandering his eyes to the officials, his hands propped on the table, “let’s start then.”

As soon as the meeting started, Jung Jaehyun talked about the well-executed foundation day, congratulating everyone who did their part, throwing subtle shade at Taeyong, who, in defense, just rolled his eyes in return. According to the president council president, the school director was pleased with their first ever project, which was kind of difficult to handle, considering the previous administration of the student council left with low fund. For that, they gave themselves a round of applause.

Jaemin tried to listen, but his thoughts kept on getting messed up. At one point, Dejun even had to pinch his thigh because he was in a trance when Jaehyun called him.

“Na Jaemin,” Jaehyun called. All the then turned to Jaemin. “I’m talking to you.”

“O-Oh, right.” Jaemin smile forcefully. “Come again?”

Jaehyun shook his head in disbelief. “We actually accumulated a lot money. For those of you who were not present in our previous meetings, we and the other clubs and organizations had agreed on a fifty-fifty percentage, which means whatever they’re revenue is, we get half of it. Plus, we also get the entirety of the capital. So, we get the capital and fifty percent of their revenue.”

“How did you even manage to do that?” Taeyong berated. “Sounds like wishful thinking.”

“Well, if you only attended the previous meetings, you might have an idea.” Jaehyun smiled mockingly. “And it isn’t just wishful thinking because Dejun has actually collected the money.”

That shut Taeyong up.

“Doyoung, are you taking notes?”

“Yes, Pres.”

“Good.” Jaehyun nodded, tapping his fingers on the table. “How many clubs and organizations have submitted the money?”

“Out of twenty-seven clubs, twenty-one has submitted the capital and fifty percent of their revenue last week. There’s still six clubs and organizations that have yet to submit,” Kim Doyoung, the secretary, explained as he flipped through the pages of his notebook.

“Kun, any update?”

“Some of the presidents of those clubs and organizations said they’re having internal conflict, and that they’re going to submit the money as soon as possible. The latest would probably be on Wednesday.”

“Probably?” Jaehyun asked, pursing his lips in distaste. “Make sure the that Wednesday is the latest, so Dejun can have everything audited by the end of the week. By the way, Dejun, do you have a copy of every club and organization’s capital and sales?”

“Yes, Pres. For the capital, I got a copy from Doyoung-hyung, and then I went around to list the total revenue of every booth right after every single one of them closed. I’ll make sure to have everything audited by the end of the week.”

“Okay, good.” Jaehyun nodded, somewhat determined. “Jaemin, you will be the one to take care of our fund. And since you’ve been missing in action, you will also be the one to canvass a new speaker. The speakers we have for events like these are already worn out. Some of them don’t even work anymore. Good thing some of the clubs lent us theirs last week.”

“Wait,” Jaemin muttered after a long while of just listening. “Why do I have to be the one to take care of the fund? Why can’t it be just Taeyong-hyung?”

“You’re literally the treasurer, just in case you forgot,” Jaehyun scolded. “I want you to buy a new speaker.”

“It’s just a single event. Why do we have to buy new ones?” Taeyong interjected all of a sudden. “Just say you’re trying to make it hard for both Jaemin and me. If the clubs let us borrow their equipment last week, I’m sure they’re going to let borrow them again. That way, we save more money. Plus, we get to spend it more on things that’s worth wasting money over.”

“First things first, we need working equipment. We are the student council. If anything, the clubs are the ones who should be borrowing from us, not the other way around. People are going to see us as irresponsible if we don’t even have working equipment for events like this since we are in-charge of stuff like this. Secondly, I’m not trying to make it hard for you. I haven’t even given you a single work to do. And it’s Jaemin’s job to treasure the organization’s treasury because, news flash, he’s the elected treasurer. Lastly, if you’re going to complain, at least propose something.”

At that, Taeyong grumbled under his breath, discreetly rolling his eyes at the president who just let it slide.

“Anyway, now that the foundation day is over, we’ll have to prepare for the school festival next. Mind you, this is the annual festival that everyone looks forward to. We have to do better than we did last week. Hopefully this time, everyone does their job,” Jaehyun declared, his gaze landing on the vice president.

There was a chorus of “we’ll do our best” among the officers in response to what Jaehyun announced.

“Is there any question?” Jaemin looked at the others, shaking his head. “If there’s none, then this meeting is adjourned. No, not you Lee Taeyong. You stay here. I need to talk to you.”

“What!”

Thanks to that meeting, Jaemin was able to sit through almost an hour without thinking of Lee Jeno after he was pinched by Dejun. He let out a small sigh, tired from sitting through something he didn’t even want to participate in. He’s starting to regret even running for a position. Now, he has to think about duties. He didn’t really think of the repercussions of getting elected. All he wanted to do was play with Huang Rejun’s feelings and emotions. Why did Huang Renjun even think of running for this position? All it does is put more stress on Jaemin.

When Friday came, Jaemin had to stay after school again. It turned out that Qian Kun had finally collected the money and gave it to Dejun, who began calculating all the accumulated money as soon as he got it. Jaemin had no choice but to sit through all the counting because the money was supposed to go to him in order for him to buy a new speaker for the upcoming school festival that would last for a whole week.

Jaemin just enjoyed the festival before, just going around different booths and eating snacks that the students would cook and sell. Now, however, things have changed. He has duty to do now. If he was able to ditch the meetings and just enjoy the foundation day, he can no longer do just that. For sure, Jung Jaehyun would get mad at him. And even though the student council president treats him like a friend, Jaemin knows that there are certain boundaries that he can’t cross. Besides, getting in a fight with Jung Jaehyun would not be a smart choice, given that Jung Jaehyun is well-loved by everyone. People might start speculating his true colors if that happens.

“The money is exactly ₩ 917, 243.91. ” Dejun tied the plastic in which he placed all the money. “Sorry, Jaem. I can’t tag along with you this weekend. My parents want us to visit my uncles and aunts. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“I am,” Jaemin responded, taking the plastic full of money before putting them inside his bag. “No worries, I can do it myself.”

“By the way, has the president given you the SC debit card?”

“Yup, he has.” Jaemin fished out his wallet, showing Dejun the debit card in between his fingers. “Ugh, have you seen Taeyong-hyung or Ten-hyung? Maybe they can tag along with me.”

“Taeyong-hyung is with Jung Jaehyun, and Ten-hyung went out Hendery Wong. Johnny Seo was actually looking for Ten-hyung. That whore, I swear to God.” Dejun laughed, shaking his head in disapproval. “One day, karma will bite his ass.”

“Karma can’t bite something that doesn’t exist.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that.” Dejun chuckled to himself. “You know how much he takes pride in having the biggest bottom out of all of us.”

Jaemin and Dejun walked together until they were outside the school premises. Since Jaemin was to head to the other way, he bid his goodbye to his friend before turning his heel, heading to the nearest bus stop. But as he was walking, he couldn’t help but feel something weird...like something was staring at him. He even wandered his eyes suspiciously, looking around if there was someone watching him. The only one who does that is Lee Jeno, but the raven-haired guy was one of the first students who exited their homeroom that day, so it couldn’t be. Coming to the conclusion that he was probably just being paranoid, he decided to just play a game on his phone as he patiently waited for the bus to arrive. When it did, he quickly hopped in, tapping his card and standing among the crowd.

Roughly about fifteen minutes, Jaemin climbed out, clutching the straps of his bag as he made his way to the direction of the bank minutes away from the bus stop where he got off. There are automated teller machines near his school, but since those only let cash be deposited, Jaemin had no choice but to go to the nearest bank because the fund he was supposed to deposit had a lot of coins. Prior to that, Jung Jaehyun had told him all the information he needed in order to deposit the money in the account so the transaction would run smoothly.

So, within thirty minutes, he was able to deposit all the money into the account. As soon as he got out of the bank, he immediately felt that someone was staring at him, like someone was following him closely behind. But since Jaemin was tired, he ignored the feeling and got his phone out to search for an audio system shop near him. It didn’t take him long enough to find one that was just a couple of minutes away from him. He decided to canvass that day because he didn’t want to do it the next day and then buy the items he needed on Sunday.

Upon arriving he saw a lot of headphones, speakers, DVD players, and whatnot. At the counter stood an elderly man, welcoming Jaemin with a friendly smile, egging him to come in.

“Young man, welcome to my shop,” the old man declared. “What are you looking for?”

“Uncle, I’m looking for a speaker that’s good for huge school events and stuff,” Jaemin replied, eyeing the huge speaker displays. “Do you have those kind of speakers?”

“Of course!” the old man declared, exiting the counter to show Jaemin the speaker he was looking for. “This QSC K10.2 Ten Inches Powered Speaker 2000. It’s kinda pricey, but the quality is great. It comes in three huge speakers, and I swear, if you blast music through this, I’m pretty sure the whole school will hear it. It’s ₩1,400,000.00, but the price is still negotiable.”

“Uh… I actually need just one.”

“Oh. Then what about this Alto Ten Inches Powered Speaker TS310,” the old man offered. “It’s kinda similar to one of those QSC K10.2. The only difference is it’s alone. The price is about the same as the individual price. ₩520,000.00.”

Jaemin’s canvassing lasted for almost half an hour as the owner explained to him the qualities and the price of the speakers. And since he still wasn’t sure what to buy, he told the owner that he’d come back the next day in the afternoon. Unbeknownst to him, a figure entered the shop and asked owners some things without his knowledge.

-

The following day, Jaemin woke up early, did his morning routine, and went out. Since he was going to the audio shop anyway, he decided to go to the mall and kill some time first, window shopping. Jaemin has always liked clothes. Honestly, he dreams of becoming rich just to be able to buy high fashion and designer clothes. He isn’t poor to say the least, but he isn’t rich either. His life is just okay.

That’s why he wants to be successful in the future. He isn’t an outstanding student, and he actually falls under the category of average to below average in the academic sense. That’s the reason why he keeps the smart people around like Liu Yangyang and Xiao Dejun. Don’t get him wrong, though. Jaemin genuinely sees Dejun as a friend, but Liu Yangyang is merely a pawn for him to use. By keeping the latter around, he gets to have a backup when Dejun isn’t around. And Dejun knows all of that.

Getting excellent grades is just as important as doing good in college scholastic ability test, but he’d worry about the latter next time. For now, getting good grades is something he should focus on.

As Jaemin walked around aimlessly, he found himself in a Ralph Lauren store. He was tantalized by the clothes in there. The brand itself might not be comparative to Balenciaga, Gucci, Saint Laurent, but the designs seemed to cast a spell on Jaemin, making his brain go haywire. Ralph Lauren might have lost its status as a luxury brand, but their polos are of high quality. Their colors last for a while, and the collars don’t curl or harden easily. As long as their polos are not kept out of a dryer, they’d last just as long as those top brands.

Upon roaming around, Jaemin found a loose, pastel blue floral shirt. He was immediately mesmerized by the design. As if on instinct, his hand landed on it, caressing the soft fabric of the top, making his eyes shine. Because of excitement, he removed the polo from its stall and headed to the fitting room to see if it would suit him, and it did. It looked amazing on him. When he looked at the price tag, however, his face fell. It was more than ₩200,000.00. That’s more than a week worth of allowance. If he doesn’t eat for the rest of the week and a couple of days, he’d be able to buy it, but he wants to wear it on the kickoff of the festival or at the end, since those are the anticipated days by the students. Even if he doesn’t eat for the rest of the week, his parents won’t give him that much money, considering they know the tradition of his school.

Painstakingly, he placed it back on the clothes rack but no before giving it a one last look.

Jaemin then took the bus to the audio shop with the floral polo in his mind. When he came inside the shop, he was yet again greeted by the owner with a wide smile. The previous night he’d thought hard about which one to buy, given that Jung Jaehyun didn’t really give him any instruction. He was going to trust his gut. He was about to buy the ₩520,000.00 speaker, but an idea came to his mind.

“Uncle…do you have the same item…” Jaemin trailed off, “...but a secondhand one…?”

When the owner said yes and that it’d be half the original price, Jaemin excused himself and told the old man that he was just going to withdraw in spite of the man insisting he accepts card. He withdrew exactly ₩520.000.00 and came back to the shop, purchasing the secondhand Alto Ten Inches Powered Speaker TS310.

-

Monday came and Jaemin felt accomplished because not only was he able to do his task, he was also able to buy the polo shirt that he’d wear for the festival. He took a cab to school using the student council debit card in order to have the speaker delivered there. After school, the students were already preparing for the festival, building different booths that the ones they built last week. When the student council president saw the speaker inside their office, Jung Jaehyun praised Jaemin, not having any idea of what the latter did.

The week then rolled around like a blink of an eye, and the festival kicked off gracefully. Colorful animated banners were everywhere as music blasted loudly at the school grounds. Booths occupied both sides of the campus, leaving the middle for the students to linger around. The sky was friendly, as if trying to blend in with the mood of the festival. The student council officers were stationed in different areas. Some were located in the east, west, south, and north, while others were stationed inside the ground floor of the building.

With a smile on his face, Jaemin smiled as he watched the other students having the time of their lives. There was a local band playing at the stage, and the students were jamming mindlessly, not caring about academics or anything else. Jaemin was wearing the loose floral shirt he bought, and it made his look softer than he usually does. He partnered it with a pair of white pants and a pastel blue running shoes he got for his birthday. Everything was going fine until he felt his phone buzz inside his pocket.

/Nice shirt. How much did you buy that?/ the text read, which weirded Jaemin out.

/Um, sorry to be rude, but who are you? I don’t remember giving my phone number to anyone./ he replied, feeling his heartbeat faster for some reason. It was as if there was an impending doom.

/Does it matter?/ the first sentence of the text read. /What matters here is that you bought that shirt you’re wearing using the school fund. Have you no shame?/

Jaemin felt his heart drop in an instant. He aggressively turned around, his eyes wandering to see anyone suspicious who might be the one sending him text messages. Anxiously, he tried and tried to find the person, but everyone seemed to be occupied but what they are doing. At first, he thought it was someone from his friends, but they were all pretty busy. Jaemin could see Ten from where he was, talking with Johnny, whereas Dejun was talking to some club representative, probably something about the revenue again. Taeyong, on the other hand, looked like was having an argument with Jung Jaehyun again.

Another text message went through. /Looking for me? :)/

/Just who the fuck are you?! This isn’t funny!/

/Calm down, Na Jaemin. I thought you were a sweetheart? That kind of attitude doesn’t suit you public persona. What would other people think once they find out you curse?/ The next words almost made Jaemin scream in fear. /Wait, they probably wouldn’t care as much. But I wonder what will people think if I tell them that you use the school fund for yourself? I could pretty much just announce it using the secondhand speaker you bought from that audio shop./

With trembling fingers and quivering lips, tears began to build up in his eyes as he typed in, /What do you want from me?/

/Meet me on the third floor of the main building, East side, storage room. Be discreet. Make you sure that nobody will see you,/ the text said.

As much as Jaemin wanted to bolt right up inside the building, he couldn’t have the risk of being seen, taking into account that this stranger wanted him to not be seen by anyone. So, slowly, he looked around before disappearing from his spot, making sure that nobody saw him, and walked calmly to the direction of the main building. When he reached the lobby, he just smiled at everyone who greeted him who were mainly freshmen and sophomore students. He then took the stairs when nobody was looking, sprinting as soon as he reached the second floor. By the time he reached the East side of the third floor, specifically the storage room, he slowly opened it, his heart hammering inside his chest.

The inside was dark, considering it was rarely ever entered by the students. Janitors clean it once a week, though, that’s why it was maintained to be clean at all times. He called for anyone, but nobody spoke. He then felt another buzz inside the pocket of his jeans.

/Go inside and stand in the middle of the room./

Even though frightened, Jaemin did as he was told. And as soon as he was in the middle, the door suddenly closed, startling him in the process. There was a figure looming, but he couldn’t see the face. He could see, however, that they were the same height.

And when the figure revealed who he was, Jaemin had to gulp in fear.

“Lee Jeno…?”

“What did I tell you last time?” There was a dangerously low laugh that come out of Lee Jeno’s lips, his stare at Jaemin deepening. “I told you to not do anything shady, didn’t I?”

“H-How did you…?” Jaemin asked. Despite the frightened feeling, he didn’t take his gaze off of Lee Jeno. He wanted answers as to how the guy found out.

“As you know, Jaehyun-hyung and I are close. He asked me to trail after you because you were going to deposit money to the student council bank account, and since we had a fight weeks ago, he didn’t think you’d appreciate my company.”

“So, you followed me…?”

“Right,” Lee Jeno confirmed, taking a step closer that made Jaemin step aback. “I rarely ever hold a grudge against people, so he didn’t think I’d use this as a leverage to get back at you. And he’s not wrong, I rarely indeed ever hold a grudge against people. But,” Lee Jeno said, pausing sinisterly, “the key word is /rarely./ I rarely hold a grudge, but that doesn’t mean I don’t.”

“Y-You’re wrong, though...” Jaemin lied, his gaze shifting anxiously. “I-I bought the brand new. I-If you want, I-I can show you the receipt i-if you wa—”

“What,” Lee Jeno cut off, “the fabricated one?”

“It’s not—”

“You think you can just easily fool me, Na Jaemin?” Lee Jeno let out a laugh of mockery, making Jaemin even more terrified than he already was. “Then, why did you have to withdraw first despite the shop accepting debit cards? Because if you buy something using it, only the grand total and the name of the merchant will be on the bank statement, which means if that speaker you bought is just ₩260,000.00, the bank statement leaves you no room to steal because any purchase will be recorded. Meanwhile, withdrawing ₩520,000.00 and spending only half of it for the speaker, you get to spend the remaining money, so as long as you fabricate the receipt and state there that the item is indeed ₩520,000.00.”

Jaemin took several steps back until he hit the wall, sliding down to the ground. The window gave them enough light, and Jaemin could now perfectly see Lee Jeno’s face.

Why did he even get himself into these kind of things? Why did he even think of buying something using the school fund just for a stupid shirt?

“The receipt is easy to manipulate,” Lee Jeno started again, towering over him, looking down at him, “but the people involved isn’t.”

“So, you were the one following me?”

“I was,” Lee Jeno confirmed, tilting his head and clicking his tongue. “And maybe you shouldn’t have told the owner of that shop what time you were gonna come back, because it gave me access to be able to trail after you more. I told him we were friends, and he believed it. I was able to know stuff like what you bought, how much it was, and whatnot.”

With tears in his eyes, Jaemin shook his head in disbelief.

“I actually followed you to the mall to see what you were going to do with the /excess/ money you had, and then I saw you bought this last stock of pastel blue, loose floral shirt in Ralph Lauren at the mall.” Crouching down, Lee Jeno’s eyes were on the same level as Jaemin as he touched the soft fabric of the shirt in a sensual manner, taking Jaemin’s breath away. “I must say, though, it looks beautiful on you. You look so pure, so innocent. It makes me wanna taint you...”

“Why are you doing this?” Jaemin just glared at Lee Jeno helplessly. “Just what do you want from me?”

With a smirk, Lee Jeno stood up, towering Jaemin once again and looking down on him, as his hands flew to his belt and the zipper of his pants. “How about you suck my cock, hm?”

Upon seeing Lee Jeno’s long and thick, veiny cock pop out, Jaemin couldn’t help but gape at it, not believing what he was seeing. His eyes then landed on the raven-haired guy, who was smirking down at him, before shifting his eyes back to Lee Jeno’s manhood. It was hard and leaking of precum, its slit shining, tempting Jaemin to come for it. Gulping nervously, Jaemin wasn’t sure if he could fit in into his mouth. And if he could, he’d probably be out of breath within seconds of having it stuffed inside.

When Lee Jeno came closer, his sense of smell was invaded by the musky and manly smell of Lee Jeno’s pubic hair and manhood. For some twisted reason, he found it addicting rather than disgusting, like it was pulling him in. Before he knew it, Lee Jeno closed the gap between the latter’s cock and his lips before pulling in, creating a string of precum.

“Have a taste,” Lee Jeno persuaded sensually, his voice sending shivers down his spine. Instinctively, Jaemin licked his lips, tasting Lee Jeno’s precum. “How was it?”

It was salty and tangy but not in an unpleasant way. Jaemin looked down, feeling ashamed of himself for liking it. He couldn’t look at Lee Jeno, couldn’t look him in the eye due to the embarrassment and humiliation he felt. Suddenly, his face was lifted and he was met by Lee Jeno. The latter was crouched down, their faces on the same level.

“So,” Lee Jeno started, “will you suck my cock or I’ll snitch on you?”

“I-I’ll do it...” Jaemin swallowed. “I’ll do it, but you have to be silent about the whole thing. Don’t bring it up to anyone, not even your friends or family.”

“Deal.”

“But how can I be sure you’re going to stick to what we’ve agreed upon?”

“You just have to trust me,” Lee Jeno answered, to which Jaemin furrowed his eyebrows at. “Na Jaemin, I’m not like you. I’m a man of my words.”

And Jaemin knew just that. Compared to him, Lee Jeno is a far way better person. The only reason the raven-haired guy is hated by everyone is because of what Jaemin did. Before that, Lee Jeno was, if not ignored, pretty much admired by other students, especially the seniors, like Jung Jaehyun.

Inhaling deeply, Jaemin straightened his back before getting on his knees, slowly reaching for Lee Jeno’s thick, meaty cock. Upon contact, he instantly felt the heat against his cold hand as he pulled tug on it delicately. He looked up to Lee Jeno, whose face was contorted to that of pleasure. Hesitantly, Jaemin ran his tongue over the slit, licking the entire head of Lee Jeno’s cock and savoring the remaining precum.

Jaemin looked up again. This time, Lee Jeno was looking down at him with half-lidded eyes, eyes dark. While staring at the raven-haired guy’s eyes, Jaemin twirled his tongue, drenching the cock with his saliva while tugging on its body slowly. After several seconds, he opened his mouth widely, wrapping his lips around it. Lee Jeno’s cock was so thick that Jaemin’s mouth was already tired just by opening it widely in order to fit Lee Jeno’s manhood inside.

Slowly, Jaemin began to bob his head, still looking at Lee Jeno, not breaking their shared gaze. He kept drawing long breath before going farther and farther each bob, sucking the life out of the raven-haired guy. Lee Jeno, on the other hand, was in so much pleasure, his mouth forming an ‘o’ as his cock got sucked. Jaemin’s mouth was so hot, so sinful, and Lee Jeno was tempted to fuck it, but he decided against it. He wanted to savor every bit of it, and that would only happen if he held back.

“Yes, baby, like that,” Lee Jeno grunted, beads of sweat running down his sideburns, forehead, and neck because of the lack of ventilation and the heat he was feeling inside. “Yeah, suck it just like that.”

Hearing that, Jaemin was becoming just as excited, feeling his dick inside his pants form a tent. He decided to suck harder, vacuuming Lee Jeno’s cock using his mouth. And when the latter moaned so loud in pleasure, facing the ceiling with closed eyes, Jaemin decided to be a little more daring by deep throating Lee Jeno.

“Fuck!” Jeno moaned. “Ah, Na Jaemin, your mouth is so fucking amazing. I’d love it if you suck my cock all day.”

Jaemin tried to reply, but because his mouth was full of Lee Jeno’s cock, his voice was muffled, sending vibrations through the thick rod stuffed inside his mouth, which seemed to send more pleasure to Lee Jeno.

Lee Jeno laughed mockingly, looking down at Jaemin. “You know, you should’ve just asked me to buy you that shirt in exchange of sucking my cock. That way, you wouldn’t have to risk anything by spending the school fund.”

In anger, Jaemin pulled out Lee Jeno’s cock from his mouth, creating a popping sound and a string of saliva between his lips and the manhood. “Shut the fuck up, you fucking pervert!”

“Damn right, I am,” Lee Jeno retorted back, chuckling at Jaemin’s upset expression. “In fact, you wouldn’t even wanna know the things I’d love to do to you.”

Before Jaemin knew it, he was pushed against the wall. He was now sitting on his ass as Lee Jeno towered him. Lee Jeno then removed his long sleeve button-down shirt, revealing his bulging muscles and veins on his arms, his broad chest, and his rock hard abs that were glistening because of how sweaty he was. He threw the shirt over Jaemin’s head, chuckling at the whining sound the latter made.

Jaemin could smell the familiar and addicting musky scent of Lee Jeno through the raven-haired guy’s shirt that blocked his eyes. When he removed it, what greeted him was Lee Jeno’s mouth-watering sculpture-like body.

Mesmerized, Jaemin didn’t get to react when Lee Jeno’s cock was forcefully shoved inside mouth. Suddenly, Lee Jeno fucked his face, not caring about the signs of protests from Jaemin. The wet, sloppy sound echoed through the walls, sending pleasure to Jaemin’s lower region. Lee Jeno picked up his pace, pounding into Jaemin’s face by tugging on the latter’s hair, pulling his head in and meeting with his thrusts.

“Fucking take that!” Lee Jeno moaned as he slid his raging cock in and out of Jaemin’s hot mouth. “You like that, hm?”

Saliva dripped down Jaemin’s mouth and chin, choking on Lee Jeno’s cock every time it hits the back of his throat. And if he didn’t Lee Jeno could be any more violent, he was wrong. The guy became more aggressive, picking up a more animalistic pace, thrusting into his mouth as Lee Jeno’s pinkish balls slap his chin repeatedly.

“The sounds you make just makes me hornier,” Lee Jeno whispered, before bending his body a little and hugging Jaemin by the back of his head, pulling him in and meeting Lee Jeno’s one violent trust. “Ah!”

Jaemin choked on Lee Jeno’s cock, pushing the latter by the thighs to be able to breath. He coughed several times, wiping the tears that built up in his eyes. When Lee Jeno saw it, the latter got alarmed.

“Shit,” the raven-haired guy whispered, “are you alright?”

But Jaemin only held his hand up in front of Lee Jeno, proceeding to crawl on his knees and sucking Lee Jeno’s cock, licking his balls, and jacking it off with one of his hands. Jaemin suck continuously, only taking a couple of seconds break in between before sucking the life out of Lee Jeno’s cock.

Once again, unable to hold himself, Lee Jeno picked up his pace. His thrusts, this time, was faster and harder. He began to meet the movement of Jaemin’s head with his thrusts, meeting Jaemin midway. Just like his thrusts, Jaemin’s sucking became more aggressive, rendering Lee Jeno weak.

“F-Fuck, I-I’m so close.” Lee Jeno closed his eyes, pounding into Jaemin’s mouth violently once again. “Fuck, eat my cum!”

White, sweet sticky liquid exploded into Jaemin’s mouth as Lee Jeno’s cock continued pulsating inside. They stayed immobile for several seconds, gaining their strength back. Lee Jeno had his eyes closed as Jaemin continued sucking, swallowing every bit of his cum. When he pulled back, he saw Jaemin slumped his back against the wall, clearly exhausted from the activity. There were beads of sweat running down Jaemin’s forehead, neck, and temples.

Only their ragged breathing could be heard inside the storage room. They were both drenched in sweat, breathing heavily. Mindlessly, Lee Jeno took the spot next to Jaemin, slumping his back against the wall as well.

“That was so good,” he said tauntingly, glancing in Jaemin’s way. “I didn’t know you had that in you.”

Hearing Lee Jeno joke, for Jaemin, was so strange, considering the guy always had a scowl on his face, always glaring at him. For some reason, it was a breath of fresh air, but Jaemin shouldn’t really be thinking about that right now because he had other problems, such as the tent inside his pants.

“Nobody should know about this,” Jaemin uttered, “not your family, especially not your friends.”

“Are you kidding me?” Lee Jeno huffed a breath. “It’s only for me to keep.”

“And about me spending the school fund, it should be a secret.”

“Of course,” Lee Jeno answered. “As long as we get to do this all the time, I’m fine with keeping it a secret.”

“What?!” Jaemin exclaimed. “But you said—”

“I’ve changed my mind,” Lee Jeno cut off, staring at Jaemin straight in the eyes challengingly, not backing down. “I didn’t promise anything to you. I never even explicitly said that I won’t tell anyone in exchange of you blowing me.”

“Fuck you!”

Before Jaemin knew it, he was pulled by the waist by Lee Jeno into the latter’s sweaty body. His breath hitched when the raven-haired guy suddenly captured his lips, and then pulled back. “I’d rather fuck you, baby, but that’s up for another time.”

-

“Hey.”

Jaemin jumped from his seat nervously, putting his hand over his left chest and sighing in relief when he saw that it was just Dejun. It was the week after the festival, and everyone has gone back to their routine. For the whole festival week, Jaemin was not able to enjoy the event, not only because he had to do his duty as part of the council, but also because he was distracted by what went down between him and Lee Jeno in the storage room.

Every night, Jaemin couldn’t help but get off at the thought of sucking Lee Jeno’s cock as the latter manhandled him. Lee Jeno was all he could ever think about; Lee Jeno’s thick and long veiny cock, Lee Jeno’s bulging triceps, Lee Jeno’s veiny arms, Lee Jeno’s broad chest and shoulders, Lee Jeno’s six pack abs, Lee Jeno’s handsome face. Jaemin was going insane, and it was all Lee Jeno’s fault.

For the rest of the festival week, however, Lee Jeno didn’t bother him. To be honest, Jaemin was expecting the raven-haired guy to blackmail him into doing things with regards to sexual favors, not that he’s complaining. He wouldn’t ever admit it out loud, but Lee Jeno fucking his mouth was one of the best things...ever. He just doesn’t want to sound so needy, to seem so into it, especially because he hates Lee Jeno’s clique.

“Don’t startle me,” he complained, throwing daggers at Dejun as the latter took the seat beside him.

“It’s not my intention to, though?” Dejun retorted back, placing his bag underneath his desk. “You’ve just been really jumpy these days.”

And because Jaemin didn’t want to go into that topic, he chose to zip his mouth instead.

Sighing in exhaustion, Dejun slumped his back. “I can’t believe we worked for the whole week, and we didn’t even get to enjoy the festival. The weekend wasn’t even enough to restore all the energy I’ve lost.”

“I know,” Jaemin replied. “We shouldn’t have run in the first place.”

As if on cue, there was a group of boys entered the class. Without thinking, Jaemin to look at the front, accidentally crossing gazes with Lee Jeno who subtly smirked in his way. Jaemin hastily avoided the raven-haired guy’s gaze, drifting his eyes on his desk, gulping nervously. It wasn’t until Lee Jeno had walked past him that he was able to look up. And because he was tempted to see Lee Jeno’s handsome face, Jaemin slowly turned his head and looked at the subject of his wildest imagination, who, in turn, looked back, flashing his eyebrows suggestively.

Instantly, Jaemin whipped his head to the front, clearing his throat and straightening his back. If having Lee Jeno’s eyes on him was uncomfortable and irksome, this time, it brings excitement and arousal to Jaemin.

Lunch time rolled around, and since both him and Dejun had packed lunch for that day, they decided to stay inside their homeroom. Coincidentally, to Jaemin’s misfortune (read: luck), Lee Jeno, together with the rest of the latter’s clique, also decided to stay inside. From the corner of his eye, Jaemin saw the clique had their desks merged together at the back of the classroom.’

“Hey, Jaem.” Liu Yangyang suddenly appeared in his line of sight, taking him by surprise, smiling widely. “Can I eat with you and Dejun?”

“Yeah, sure.” Jaemin smiled sweetly, glancing at Dejun knowingly.

Liu Yangyang grabbed the chair in front of Jaemin and Dejun’s table, placing it in their direction. Once seated Liu Yangyang was seated, they all opened their lunch boxes, invading their sense of smell with the aroma of their respective packed lunch.

Wordlessly, Jaemin began eating his meal, the sunny side up and rice his mother packed for him.

“Here, Nana,” Dejun said, putting strips of marinated squid on his lunch box. “My mom finally had the time to cook this. I told her you love it, and she cooked for two people for you.”

“Really?” Jaemin smiled. “Your mom is so sweet. I miss coming over to your house and your mom’s cooking. Ugh, my mom didn’t even put any effort into my lunch. She literally just cooked sunny side up and rice.”

“You can also have some of mine, Jaemin,” Liu Yangyang intervened, also putting chunks of pork-belly inside his lunch box. “I actually cooked this myself. Actually, if you want, I can cook for you, too!”

“Uh, it’s alright.”

“Are you sure?” Liu Yangyang asked expectantly. “It’s free food. Plus, people tell me I cook amazing.”

“Yeah.“ Jaemin forced a smile, going back to his food.

For the duration of lunch time, Jaemin tried to ignore Liu Yangyang by talking to Dejun nonstop, cutting him whenever the guy would start to talk. By the end of school hours, Jaemin was gathering his belongings, putting them inside his bag. Most of the students had exited the room. He was ready to go outside with Dejun when he heard a familiar voice that sent shivers down his spine.

“Na Jaemin,” Lee Jeno’s sultry deep-toned voice sounded, ringing through his ears. Jaemin momentarily closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. “Where are you going?”

Turning around, he plastered a forced smile on his face. “...Yes…?”

“Where are you going?” came Lee Jeno’s plain reply with his arms across his chest.

“Uh...” Jaemin trailed off, confused. “Home…?”

“You’re assigned to clean today.” Lee Jeno pointed at the cork board over his shoulder with his thumb.

“Oh...”

“It’s alright,” Liu Yangyang interjected. “You can go home, Jaem. I’ll take over for you.”

“Really?” Jaemin asked in fake innocence. “Thank you, Yangyang.”

With a wink, Liu Yangyang summoned a wide smile that reached his eyes. “No problem. You owe me one, okay?”

Nodding in confirmation, Jaemin smiled in Liu Yangyang’s way, not noticing Lee Jeno’s piercing eyes. Dejun just smirked, shaking his head at Liu Yangyang’s naivety. Turning on his heel, Jaemin was yet again stopped by the class monitor.

“No,” Lee Jeno declared. “If you don’t do your duty, Na Jaemin, I will tell Mr. Ok about it. Actually, I will tell him all the times you let others do your duty. And you won’t be the only one in trouble, Liu Yangyang, too, considering he’s the one who does your duty for you.”

“Why now?” Jaemin tried to fight back. “Why didn’t you do it before, huh?”

“Because I’m a considerate class monitor,” Lee Jeno responded. “And because I’m a considerate class monitor, some people like taking advantage of that, like you.”

In fury, Jaemin let out a shaky breath, closing his eyes momentarily before telling Dejun and Liu Yangyang to go on. He bid his goodbye to Dejun who rolled his eyes at Lee Jeno in irritation. Meanwhile, Liu Yangyang mumbled an apology before exiting the room. Unwillingly, Jaemin grabbed a cleaning rag, proceeding to wipe the windows as Lee Jeno stood at the front, observing the students with cleaning duties in pretense. In reality, Lee Jeno’s attention was solely focused on Na Jaemin despite his eyes not being on the latter.

For several minutes, the students stuck to what they were doing. On the other hand, Lee Jeno watched like an eagle, his eyes wander around, but his attention was concentrated at Na Jaemin. Another couple of minutes had passed when the ones who mopped the floor asked Jaemin to put the mop inside the bathroom. When he came back, however, the other students were already gone. Only Lee Jeno was there, sitting on one of the seats at the front.

“Where are the others?” Jaemin asked in confusion, a little frightened to step further inside.

“They left already,” Lee Jeno replied, checking his nails before looking at Jaemin. “I’m actually just waiting for you to come back. I mean, I can’t leave you. As the class monitor, I need to make sure that everyone’s gone home.”

“Liar.”

Lee Jeno let out a chuckle —a reaction that still felt foreign to hear and see for Jaemin. “Is it bad that I’m doing my job properly?”

“Cut it out.” Jaemin closed his eyes in annoyance at the subtle jab at him. “I’m no longer going to spend the school fund for personal gain.”

“I didn’t even mention anything about that.” A small laugh of mockery resounded through the empty homeroom, ricocheting against the walls, ringing inside Jaemin’s head. “Really though, I’m just trying to be a responsible class monitor. Actually, I should thank you. Mr. Ok told me to be like you, didn’t he?”

“Just cut it out, Lee Jeno.” Jaemin gulped, straightening his composure. “What do you want from me?”

“What do you think?” Lee Jeno finally rose from his seat, dusting off the imaginary dirt on his palms. Slowly, he walked toward Jaemin, who, in turn, took a step back each step he took. Before Jaemin could even storm off, he shut the door, locking it from the inside. He then caged Jaemin, putting his right hand against the door just beside the latter’s waist and blocking Jaemin with his right hand above the latter’s head. Their faces were only inches apart, and they could feel each other’s breath fanning one another’s lips.

“What,” Jaemin snapped, glaring at Lee Jeno, “you want your cock sucked again?”

There was that low chuckle again. “You’re so vulgar. That’s bad for your public persona.”

“Don’t play with me.”

“You know,” Lee Jeno started, scrunching his eyebrows in thought, “seeing your aggressive side, I’m kinda conflicted which I like more, the sweet and charming Na Jaemin or the antagonistic and hostile Na Jaemin.”

“One thing’s for sure, though,” he retorted back, “I like neither side of you.”

“Feisty.” Lee Jeno’s right hand landed on his bottom lip, swiping it sensually. “But one thing is for sure, I like seeing you choke on my cock. I like seeing you on your knees, looking up at me as I fuck your mouth relentlessly. Don’t you like that, too, hm?”

Jaemin whimpered, turning his face away in embarrassment, unable to look at the raven-haired guy in the eyes. “S-Shut up...”

“Liu Yangyang,” Lee Jeno muttered under his breath, hitting Jaemin’s cheek, “what is he to you?”

Swallowing in fear, Jaemin said, “N-Nothing. H-He’s just one of those guys who likes following me around...”

“Really?”

“Really…”

“Then why were you two kissing that time when I saw you, hm?” Lee Jeno asked dangerously, his eyes darkening.

“Yangyang has always had a crush on me,” Jaemin gulped. “So I thought of it as a way for thanking him...”

“Thanking him for what?”

“T-Thanking him for campaigning for me during the student council election...”

“Is that all?” In a swift move, Lee Jeno moved Jaemin’s head by the chin, so that they were face to face, their gazes crossing once again. The former’s hand was back on Jaemin’s lips, caressing it before leisurely parting it open. “Not because you used him to spread rumors about me supposedly bullying you?”

“N-No...”

“Oh, come on.” Lee Jeno let out another incredulous chuckle, shaking his head at Jaemin. “You really can’t be serious. You know, it’s best for you to just be honest to me. You’re at a disadvantage right now.”

“Y-Yeah, okay,” Jaemin finally admitted. “I used him to spread rumors about you, and I’m sorry for that, alright? I won’t do it again.”

“That’s cute, but I don’t really trust your words.”

“I can say the same about you, you lying piece of shit.” Jaemin attempted to push Lee Jeno by the chest, but the latter was stronger and did not even budge a little bit. “Stay away from me!”

Before he knew it, he felt an arm around his waist, pulling him closer in a swift move. He felt a pair of wet, luscious lips crash against his, rendering him breathless. It was aggressive, hungry, and full of lust, and Jaemin couldn’t keep up with where things were going. He then felt Lee Jeno’s tongue slither its way inside his mouth, invading every corner of it. Not wanting to just back down, Jaemin fought for dominance, meeting Lee Jeno’s tongue halfway. At the same time, his arms found themselves wrapping around Lee Jeno’s broad shoulders, his hands flying on the latter’s hair, pulling on it in pleasure. Lee Jeno, on the other hand, slid his hands around Jaemin’s waist before lowering them and grabbing the latter’s round ass, making Jaemin whimper.

Suddenly, Lee Jeno pulled away, smirking. “Stay away from you, huh?”

With half-lidded eyes, Jaemin was the one who made the move to continue their kiss, capturing Lee Jeno’s lips for another make out session. With two hands massaging his ass, Jaemin couldn’t help but let out a muffled moan against Lee Jeno’s lips.

“Sh,” Lee Jeno hushed in between kisses. “People might hear you.”

Nodding in his horny state, Jaemin closed his eyes with a sharp intake of breath when Lee Jeno’s kisses traveled to his earlobe, licking on it as sensual as possible, making his lower region excited. It continued traveling down to his neck, finding his sweet spot. Lee Jeno lapped his neck, kissing, licking, sucking, and biting its entirety until there were bruises and hickeys all over.

Jaemin was in too much pleasure to think straight, not caring about anything else in the moment but what he was feeling. He then felt Lee Jeno ground against him, the friction creating an immeasurable amount of pleasure, making him lose him mind.

“F-Fuck,” he whimpered, almost close to tears. “J-Jeno, p-please don’t stop.”

“Yeah?” Lee Jeno urged, trying to elicit more reaction. “You like that?”

Nodding, Jaemin said, “I-I can feel your cock… I-It’s so huge.”

Hearing that from him, Lee Jeno seemed to get excited even more. The latter started grinding against him with more force, which Jaemin loved so much that he started reciprocating the gesture, meeting the raven-haired guy’s hips halfway.

“Did you like sucking it?” Lee Jeno sensually whispered in his ear, giving him goosebumps and heightening his sexual drive. Jaemin nodded briefly. “I really love seeing you choke on my cock, baby.”

“I-I love choking on it, too...” Jaemin replied, whimpering, completely out of his mind. “C-Can I touch it…?”

Smirking, Lee Jeno whispered, “Of course, it’s all yours.”

But before Jaemin could do so, they heard the doorknob twist, startling them both. Good thing it was locked. They both disentangled themselves from each other, fixing the creases of their uniform, acting like they didn’t just make out. Jaemin turned away in embarrassment, looking down with reddened cheeks, while Lee Jeno straightened his back, clearing his throat. The latter then opened the door, revealing a clearly confused Jung Jaehyun in their midst.

“Jeno?” came the puzzled voice of Jung Jaehyun. “Jaemin?”

“Hyung,” they accidentally said in unison.

“Why are you two still here?” Jung Jaehyun asked, looking at the empty halls. “Why are you two alone?”

Gulping, Jaemin’s cheeks seemed to reddened even more at that, stumbling over his words. “W-We, uh… W-we were cleaning our room...”

“Just the two of you?”

“Well,” Lee Jeno started, standing too close to Jaemin for the latter’s liking, “Jaemin here hasn’t been doing his duty since the start of the school year, so I let the others go and have Jaemin clean the room.”

And because Lee Jeno’s arm was out of Jung Jaehyun’s line of sight, the fucker really had to do it. Jaemin felt a hand on his behind, startling him. He looked at Lee Jeno, who, in return, just smiled at him innocently. He could feel his ass getting squeeze, making him excited.

“Then, why did you have to lock the room?”

“Because he thought I was gonna storm off,” Jaemin responded with a nervous smile. “He locked the room because he thought I was gonna storm off.”

Side eyeing the two, Jung Jaehyun decided to drop the topic anyway. “Are you two done with the /cleaning?/”

“N—”

“Yes!” Jaemin cut off, discreetly removing Lee Jeno’s grasp on his ass. “We are, actually.”

“Alright, let’s head out together,” Jung Jaehyun said. “I’ve been texting you, Jeno, but you weren’t replying. Since I’m roaming around to see if all the students have left their rooms, I decided to look for you here.”

“I thought you and Taeyong-hyung are going home together?” Lee Jeno asked in confusion.

“He left me.” Jung Jaehyun sighed in exasperation. “Seriously, I don’t even know what to do with him anymore. He’s such a diva. Good thing you aren’t like him, Jaemin. I don’t even know how you put up with him.”

“Why do you even feel the need to put up with Taeyong-hyung?” Jaemin asked suspiciously. “And why do you want to go home with him?”

“Because I like him?”

“What?”

“What?” Jung Jaehyun retorted back. “I thought it was obvious?”

“Enough about that,” Lee Jeno suddenly spoke, carrying their bags. Jaemin didn’t even notice Lee Jeno went to get them. “Let’s just go home.”

When he was about to get it from Lee Jeno his bag, the latter held it out of his reach. “Give me my bag.”

“No, I’ll carry it for you.” Before Jaemin could even react, Lee Jeno grabbed his hand and left the room, Jung Jaehyun following closely behind them.

Good thing that there were no students around anymore. Jaemin was afraid that his name would get dragged if anyone saw them together, hand-in-hand to top it all. In fear that Lee Jeno might bring up to the student council president what he did to the school fund, Jaemin let himself be pulled. Behind them, Jung Jaehyun was shaking his head at them with a knowing smile the entire time. By the time they were outside the gates, Lee Jeno still held onto Jaemin’s hand.

“Let go,” Jaemin muttered under his breath in embarrassment, attempting to pull his hand away from Lee Jeno’s grasp but failing miserably. “I’m gonna head home now.”

“Come on, Jeno,” Jung Jaehyun said, motioning for them to hit the streets on their way home.

“You go ahead, hyung.” Lee Jeno gave a single nod, a signal for the student council to go first. “I’ll drop Jaemin off to the bus stop.”

“No!” Jaemin exclaimed, to which he earned a long, hard stare from Lee Jeno. “Y-You don’t have to do that...”

“I insist.” There was finality in Lee Jeno’s tone. “Hyung, you go ahead.”

“Just weeks ago, I heard you were in a fight. Now, you act like boyfriends.” Jung Jaehyun sighed. “You’re such a bummer, Jeno. You should’ve just told me you’re not gonna go home with me. I literally wasted my time.”

Jaemin blushed at the comment.

“I didn’t ask you to.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jung Jaehyun dismissed, waving his hands off. “Anyway, I’ll get going. Take care of Jaemin for Taeyong and I, will you?”

Lee Jeno nodded wordlessly as Jung Jaehyun turned on his heel, proceeding to go the other way. Jaemin’s palms began to sweat as he saw the student council president’s retreating figure make a turn, leaving him alone with Lee Jeno. Surprisingly, the latter didn’t say anything and started to walk toward the direction of the bus stop. He followed suit, keeping a safe distance between them.

In embarrassment, Jaemin had his head down the whole time. He couldn’t help but blush at the thought of him and Lee Jeno going at it just minutes ago, in their homeroom at the top of that. There was a looming fascination in the pit of his stomach at how Lee Jeno could walk so calmly, like their mouths weren’t latching on each other just earlier when Jaemin himself could still feel the ghost of the raven-haired guy’s lips against his.

If Jung Jaehyun hadn’t checked up on them, they probably would’ve fucked in there. And knowing how huge Lee Jeno is, he would probably have a hard time going home and coming to school for days.

It wasn’t until a couple of minutes later when they reached the bus stop. Lee Jeno stood under the shade of the stop, both hands inserted cockily inside the pockets of his pants. Meanwhile, Jaemin stood just close enough, staring ahead, glancing at the guy every now and then.

“I’ll pick you up on Saturday,” Lee Jeno blurted out out of nowhere.

“What for…?” Jaemin asked, indifferent.

“We’ll go out.”

“What?”

“Do you want me to repeat it?” Lee Jeno then turned to look at him. “I said we’ll go out.”

“H-Huh…?”

“Or maybe I can just call Jaehyun-hyung and tell him about what you di—”

“No!” Jaemin exclaimed when Lee Jeno took out his phone, ready to call Jung Jaehyun. “I-I will go with you...”

“Good.” Lee Jeno smiled slyly, pocketing his phone. “There’s your bus.”

Truth to it, the bus stopped in front of Jaemin. “...See you...”

However, before Jaemin could even get in, he felt a tug around his waist, pulling him. In no time, he felt a pair of lips against his, rendering him breathless, speechless, and confused more than ever. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

-

Going on dates is something Jaemin has never gotten used to. He’d gone on a couples ones right after Mark Lee and his snake of an ex-best friend, Haechan Lee, and none of it went as great as he’d imagined. They were either awkward, unpleasant, or straight up disastrous. Moreover, he isn’t particularly keen on spending money over an overpriced food in restaurants.

Yes, Jaemin doesn’t let the other party pay the entire bill for the most part, unless they insist on doing so. It isn’t good for his name. Plus, it’s the least he can do to keep his pride intact. That’s why he doesn’t like going on dates. It’s costly and stressful.

However, Jaemin would be lying to himself if he said he’s not excited and nervous for Saturday to come around, but Lee Jeno, or anyone for that matter, doesn’t have to know about that. He’s been thinking what kind of outfit to wear, taking into account that his closet is limited to a couple of still-in-good-condition, hand-me-down shirts and a few pair of faded pants. He has to plan it out to look presentable, not that he’s trying to impress Lee Jeno. And if he’s indeed trying to, Lee Jeno absolutely doesn’t have to know anything about that.

Being in Lee Jeno’s presence is both exhilarating and troublesome. There are days when Jaemin likes having him under his radar. The subtle gazes, the intentional-accidental touches —all of them send jolts of electricity, like bolts of lighting in the sky, across his entire body. In contrast, there are days when he just wants to beat the living shit out of Lee Jeno because of the latter’s antics, such as grabbing, massagine, and squeezing his butt discreetly when they’d walk past each other in the hallways, kissing him on the lips when they’re out of everyone’s sight, and whispering sensual nothings in his ears that would bring his lower region to life. Don’t get him wrong, though. He loves it just as much as he hates Lee Jeno having control over him. It’s soul-stirring, something that he hadn't felt before. They’re like little foxes running away from the hunting eyes of everyone around them, even their friends.

For a few days though, Jaemin was able to have a peace of mind. Not only there wasn’t much to do in all his classes in general, but his duty as a part of student council seemed to come to a halt when the festival passed by. Surprisingly, Lee Jeno didn’t pull anything shady but he could still feel the raven-haired guy’s subtle gazes and suggestive flash of eyebrows at him. The only annoying thing that Jaemin had to endure was the constant teasing messages from Lee Jeno who seemed to enjoy riling him up.

At times, Dejun, Taeyong, and Ten would look at him suspiciously as to why he kept on checking his phone and receiving texts. They knew he isn’t much of a texter, and the only people he ever texts are them, his parents occasionally.

It wasn’t until Wednesday after their last class that he received a message about his and Lee Jeno’s date. Shifting his eyes at Dejun, who was gathering his belongings and getting ready to go home, Jaemin sneakily opened the message out of his friend’s sight, reading the text with scrunched eyebrows.

/Hey, change of plans. I won’t be available on Saturday. So, let’s just go out on Friday after class instead,/ the text read. Hesitantly, Jaemin looked behind, meeting Lee Jeno’s eyes.

/Why Friday then? Why don’t we just reschedule our date on Sunday?/ He hit the send button, biting his inner cheek as he waited for a reply. A part of him was relieved because that meant he didn’t need to dress up, but the other part of him was conflicted, considering someone might see them together.

/Oh, so it’s a date?/ Even just from the screen, Jaemin can perfectly visualize Lee Jeno’s condescending look by the mere composition of his message. /Because I don’t wanna wait any longer./ 

/Shut up. What if someone sees us?/

/I don’t really give a single fuck./

/Well, news flash, I do./

“Hey.” Jaemin suddenly jumped from his seat, clutching his heart on his chest. It was Dejun, staring at him, perplexed at his reaction. “What has gotten to you lately?”

“N-Nothing,” he replied almost instantly.

“Then, why haven’t you put your things back inside your bag?” Dejun asked, checking his wristwatch. “You’re not on duty today, right? Come on, let’s go.”

Just then, Jaemin’s phone dinged, signaling another message. With a look of suspicion of Dejun, he nodded rapidly, gathering his things in haste, glancing in Lee Jeno’s way once in a while. By the time, he was ready to go, he received another message. This time, however, Dejun didn’t let it slide anymore.

“Hey, Jaemin,” Dejun called, “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“What?” Jaemin asked defensively. “No!”

“If you say so,” Dejun responded nonchalantly. “But if I find out you’re seeing someone without telling me, I’ll castrate you.”

The statement lingered in the air. To be fair though, Jaemin isn’t really seeing Lee Jeno...or is he? Nonetheless, he doesn’t want to assume things. After all, the only reason they’re having this kind of affair is because he doesn’t want to get snitched by Lee Jeno. At this point, he no longer cares. Being with Lee Jeno isn’t bad anyway. He gets to let out his sexual frustration in his body.

“Of course not.” It rolled off Jaemin’s tongue casually past his lips, but it left a bittersweet taste on his mouth. “If I were to start seeing someone, you’d be the first one to know.”

Dejun nodded in understanding, and Jaemin couldn’t help but glance in Lee Jeno’s way. Surprisingly, the latter wasn’t staring at him, and Jaemin found it easier at that moment to unmask his facade. And then he looked at Dejun, smiling half-heartedly before strapping his backpack on, exiting the room.

As soon as he arrived home, he slipped out of his shoes and headed straight to his room. There were two messages from Lee Jeno. He sat on his bed, opening them immediately.

/Well, I’m sure you will, too, if I told Jaehyun-hyung about the school fund, eh?/ the first text read, and then it was followed by another. /We’ll have our ‘date’ on Friday, and that’s final. You really have no choice here. By the way, tell your parents you need to work on a school project or something because you’ll stay the night at my place./

Reading the words over and over again, Jaemin felt powerless. He fell on his back, staring at the ceiling of his room as if it would show him the answers to his non-existent questions, hands spread across his bed. In all honesty, he wanted to retaliate like how he’d always done, but he didn’t have the power to do so, especially when unwanted thoughts were popping inside his mind, creating a mental mayhem.

/Okay./ he typed in, choosing the easier way out and hitting the send button. He then threw his phone on the side, closing his eyes.

Jaemin, with all that he could, tried to ignore Lee Jeno for the rest of Thursday. There were times when their gazes would accidentally cross, but he would whip his head away instantly, bothered by the thumping of his heart. Even if he wanted to look at Lee Jeno’s ethereal face, he mustered all his strength not to turn his head and look in the raven-haired guy’s direction. Throughout the day, Jaemin received a series of texts, but he never opened it until he was out in the shopping mall with his friends.

The four of them grabbed something to eat first, courtesy of Lee Taeyong, before they went straight to the department store. Not wanting to see clothes he knew he couldn’t buy, Jaemin told his friends to go ahead because he needed to use the restroom, which he did, but he didn’t follow them right after. Instead, he sat on one of the benches in the waiting area, opening the messages Lee Jeno had been bombarding him with.

/Hey, you’re pants are tighter today. Nice ass you got there./

/Look in my way./

/Na Jaemin, why do I feel like you’re purposely avoiding me, huh?/

/Check your phone./

/I can’t believe you left the school without even sending me a text back. Where are you right now? I’ll fetch you./

/I’m seriously pissed off right now./

/I’ll see you at school tomorrow, Na Jaemin./

Those are just some of the texts Jaemin received from Lee Jeno throughout the day. For some reason, his heartbeat quickened just by reading the last message. Their past interactions gave him an idea what it’s like when Lee Jeno is not in the right mood. The latter can be pretty scary, but Jaemin finds it hot. When Lee Jeno’s manhandling him, he can’t help but be a submissive bitch in the heat, like a whore that hasn’t been touched in so long.

Lee Jeno’s rough hands are addicting, especially when grabbing him by his arm or ass cheeks. The squeeze, the massage, the pinch—all of them feel great. Jaemin would never admit it, but sometimes, he would deliberately try to annoy Lee Jeno just so he can have those beefy hands shoved his body against the wall of the school bathroom and have Lee Jeno ravished his lips until they were too swollen for him to feel.

But an angry Lee Jeno is something Jaemin wouldn’t want to mess with. And just as luck would have it, there wasn’t any glint of humor or anything of the sort in Lee Jeno’s eyes. The latter was devoid of any emotion all throughout the day, and Jaemin was scared shitless, especially when Lee Jeno wasn’t even trying to hide the fact the the raven-haired guy was indeed staring at him.

“Did you do anything to Lee Jeno again?” Dejun asked out of nowhere as they were carrying the printed essays of their class that their Korean literature teacher told them to write.

That took Jaemin aback. “H-Huh?”

“He’s been glaring at you the whole time, ever since I entered first class.” Dejun pushed the doors of the faculty room. “I don’t know, maybe I’m just reading into it too much. But I swear, he looks so pissed. I even tried looking at him so he would turn his head away, but he didn’t even budge.”

They both greeted their teacher with a smile as soon as they saw her, placing the worksheets on her desk and bowing their heads in farewell before exiting the faculty room. “I didn’t… We haven’t really been interacting…”

“Is that so? Then, maybe I’m really just being judgmental,” Dejun said, almost to himself. “Anyway, do you wanna go to that newly opened restaurant on seventh street? They serve unlimited chicken wings for an affordable price. Come on, my treat.”

“I can’t today.”

“Wow, you rejected my offer even if it’s my treat?” Dejun asked incredulously, offended. “You must be onto something.”

“Shut up, stop being dramatic.” Jaemin rolled his eyes in annoyance. “My mom just asked me to run some errands.”

The truth, however, is he asked his mother if he could stay at a friend’s house today because he’ll be ‘working’ on a project with a classmate.

“Then, I’ll come with you and we’ll go to that restaurant right after. I have all the time in the world. My parents don’t require me to go home early today.”

“No, seriously.” Jaemin faced Dejun in defeat. “Let’s just try that restaurant next time, or maybe bring Taeyong-hyung and Ten-hyung instead.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Dejun waved his hand dismissively. “It’s gotta be your treat next time, though.”

The thing with Jaemin is that he seemed to always know when something is wrong, when something is clearly not right, like he has some sort of sixth sense. His gut instincts are almost, if not always, right. He knows when there’s a presence of another person or when someone is staring at him. So, when he felt burning holes at the back of his head when he entered his homeroom, he had a hunch that Dejun wasn’t being paranoid.

Lee Jeno was indeed glaring at him.

In order to distract himself, he tried to listen to the lectures throughout the day, ignoring the feeling of being watched. When the last class was about to end, Jaemin expected for the worst, especially when he felt his phone buzz inside his pocket.

“So, I’ll go ahead first,” Dejun told him.

“Yeah, sure.” Jaemin smiled. “Take care.”

“You, too.” Dejun saluted. “Bye.”

As Dejun made a beeline for the door, Jaemin saw Lee Jeno and the latter’s clique head outside, too, but Lee Jeno himself gave him one last piercing gaze before finally walking out. Gulping, Jaemin fished his phone out of his pocket, reading the message that came from the raven-haired guy.

/I’ll be waiting for you outside the gates./

Letting out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, Jaemin clutched his heart, his palms and temples profusely sweating at the message. It was plain and simple, yet the intensity of the words was so powerful it left him panicking.

Scared to finally be alone with Lee Jeno, Jaemin took all the time in the world. He re-applied powder on his face, take a piss and washed his hands inside the school bathroom, made sure that his school uniform wasn’t creased from the top all the way down. He even took small steps when he reached the grounds, nervous and frightened.

When Jaemin saw the familiar mop of raven hair emerge from the distance, he swallowed nervously, calming himself down and trying not to be intimidated. As Lee Jeno turned his head to look at him, he felt like pissing himself right there, right then. But Lee Jeno only stood in his tracks, looking at him in scrutiny. Without anything, he was grabbed by the raven-haired guy by the hand as they headed toward the bus stop.

“Why weren’t you replying to my texts?” It was the first thing that came out of Lee Jeno’s mouth, and the latter looked mad. The latter wasn’t looking at him but was still holding his hand, even when they reached the bus stop.

“I was just preoccupied,” came Jaemin’s small reply.

“With what?”

/With the thoughts I shouldn’t even be thinking and the emotions I shouldn’t even be feeling,/ Jaemin wanted to reply. It has been bugging him ever since the kickoff of the school festival, and Jaemin’s been feeling lost. “With stuff.”

In all honesty, he expected Lee Jeno to throw a tantrum, threaten to snitch on him, or let out an outburst. Instead, the raven-haired guy looked more troubled by how he was acting.

“So, that’s why you weren’t able to reply to me even today?” Lee Jeno retaliated, facing him. “Look at me.”

But Jaemin did otherwise. He stared at the ground in guilt for some reason. Lee Jeno’s last sentence was soft and delicate that Jaemin almost gave in. Almost, but he didn’t. So, Lee Jeno turned his head by the chin.

“Is there a problem?”

Under absolutely no circumstance did Jaemin expect that Lee Jeno would look at him with those eyes. Eyes that seemed to hold worry and concern, especially this close. Not only is he undeserving of those for spreading lies about Lee Jeno and his friends, but he also hates the gesture. He hates that it felt like Lee Jeno was taking pity on him. He doesn’t want that, doesn’t need that. However, he had no strength to put up a fight. So, he slowly shook his head in response, his eyes still on the pavement.

“No,” he muttered under his breath, gulping.

What happened next was the last thing he was expecting. Right there at the bus stop, his lips was captured by Lee Jeno in a lip-lock, throwing him off guard. Good thing that there were only a handful of people around, and most of them were minding their own business.

Compared to all the kisses they’ve had, this was the softest, the most raw out of all of them. There was no aggression, no hunger or anything along those lines. There wasn’t a need for it to be hurried. It was so gentle that Jaemin had to close his eyes and savor the moment. He began to kiss back sloppily, getting lost in the moment. Lee Jeno’s lips were soft, and it tasted sweet. And in honesty, Jaemin could kiss Lee Jeno all day.

Jaemin’s insides did a somersault over and over again, and he wanted to melt in that instant under the daylight of Seoul. It left him lost, not knowing where to actually stand. He likes it better when Lee Jeno treats him like actual dirt, when Lee Jeno treats as if nothing but a toy to play with. That way, Jaemin isn’t succumbed to the make-believe thoughts that maybe there’s something more to this whole arrangement.

Only did they come back to their senses when a large honk resounded from the bus that stopped before them. Instantly, Jaemin pushed Lee Jeno by the chest, his cheeks beet red at the driver who was staring at them, shaking his head. On instinct, Jaemin’s fingers flew on his lips, feeling his swollen bottom lip before he felt a hand grabbed his other hand.

“Let’s go,” Lee Jeno urged, tugging on his hand. Wordlessly, Jaemin nodded as both of them hopped inside the bus.

Lost. That’s the word that would best describe Jaemin at that moment. Although they were already inside the moving bus, Lee Jeno never let go of his hand as they stood face to face. If anything, the grasp only seemed to tighten with every passing minute. He had to take several deep breath intake just calm himself down. Having a verbal fight with Lee Jeno is so much better than this. With the former, there’s a clear distinction where to stand, but with the latter, it only leaves Jaemin confused and with mushed up thoughts.

“Where are we going?” Jaemin asked suddenly.

“Seoul Arts Center Opera Theater,” Jeno responded as the bus finally came to the last stop. The two of them hopped out, still hand-in-hand.

“Huh?” Jaemin murmured, his brows scrunching in wonder. “Why there of all places?”

Lee Jeno then unstrapped his backpack from his shoulder, opening one of its flies and whipping out two VIP tickets to The Man Who Laughs Musical in front of his face. Wide-eyed, Jaemin snatched the tickets, caressing it to see if they were real.

“D-Did you buy these…?” he questioned incredulously. “These are so expensive. One VIP ticket costs for about ₩150,000.00. You can’t possibly be serious.”

“I didn’t buy them.” Lee Jeno pocketed his hands. “My mom works as one of the managers in SACOT. I asked if she had two extra tickets for this month’s play, so she gave me those.”

“Wait, does that mean we’ll see your mom there?”

“No,” Lee Jeno replied. “She and Dad are on a trip. They’re not coming home until Sunday night.”

Jaemin nodded in understanding, looking at the tickets in his hands. “Wow...” 

“Wait, you like The Man Who Laughs?” Lee Jeno asked in skepticism, to which Jaemin nodded. “Really? I don’t really know what you’d like or where you’d like to go, so I just asked my mom for extra tickets. Good thing, you like it.”

“I love it...” Jaemin uttered in a daze, still staring at the tickets. “I’ve read the book, but I’ve never seen the musical...”

“You read?”

“Of course, I do. Only sometimes, though.” He frowned. “Dejun is a wide reader, and he always has a book in his bag. I happened to be bored one time when we were in the library while he was doing our homework, so I decided to read the book inside his bag at the time, which is The Man Who Laughs.”

“Xiao Dejun does your homework?”

“Out of all the things I said, that’s the only thing you caught?” Jaemin asked, displeased.

“I’m just kidding.” Lee Jeno chuckled. Yes, Lee Jeno chuckled, which Jaemin still finds hard to get used to. Suddenly, his heart began to race.“Starting today, if you need help with your homework, just approach me. If I’m not around, give me a text or a call.”

With a shaky breath, Jaemin looked at the raven-haired guy before him, searching for any hint of humor or mockery in his expression, but there was nothing. Lee Jeno’s tone was serious, very genuine. And Jaemin didn’t know what to feel about that. So, without thinking, he just nodded, gulping.

“Let’s go,” Lee Jeno said, grabbing his hand casually once again, as if it were the most normal thing to do, proceeding to drag him. Unbeknownst to Jaemin, Lee Jeno was sporting the widest smile the raven-haired guy had ever let out in years.

-

The opera house inside within the Seoul Arts Center Opera Theater was massive with plethora of red seats and golden lights. As the two of them entered, they saw how jam-packed the opera house was, yet Jaemin didn’t feel bothered by it. If anything, it brought more excitement to him, considering everyone in the crowd probably have read the novel and would probably love the musical just as he did. Lee Jeno was the first one to sit down, followed suit by Jaemin, still feeling the adrenaline rush. By the time the lights went out and the spotlight focused on one of the characters who appeared at the very first part of the play, Jaemin felt Lee Jeno’s hand intertwined with his, playing with his emotions yet again.

Throughout the musical, Jaemin felt lightheaded, like he was floating on cloud nine. Lee Jeno didn’t let go of his hand even a millisecond, which seemed to be the cause of his heartbeat to go haywire. At the same time, Jaemin felt at ease, as if things were supposed to be that way, like he and Lee Jeno holding hands should be normal. He tried to focus on the play, but with his insides doing back flips over and over again and his heart pounding so loud it could probably be heard in the opera house, it was to no avail.

Even when the musical ended, Lee Jeno still didn’t let go of his hand.

“I really, really enjoyed it,” Lee Jeno said, glancing over his shoulder. “Did you?”

“Yeah.” Jaemin nodded, beet red. “Thank you for letting me see it.”

“Well, I don’t really accept just ‘thank you,’ so...” Before Jaemin could even register in his pretty little mind what happened, he felt a pair of lips touch against his for a millisecond. It wasn’t long, more like a peck. Nonetheless, it still left Jaemin in an internal mayhem. “There, that’s way better.”

“W-Wha—”

“Let’s go grab something to eat, shall we?”

With a tight-lipped smile, Jaemin just nodded, proceeding to let himself get dragged by Lee Jeno. They exited the building, hitting the streets of Seoul under the fairly friendly weather. In fear of seeing someone from school, Jaemin tried to retreat his hand from the grasp of Lee Jeno, but the raven-haired guy just looked at him funny, the hold only tightening.

Roughly around fifteen minutes of walking hand-in-hand, they arrived at a handsome bistro not too far away from the theater. The exterior already looked expensive with its rustic yet furnished finishing. Inside, the main components of the interior were stone and wood, emphasizing the natural and raw look of the place. Everything looked natural and unrefined yet so elegant and clean.

The moment Jaemin laid his eyes inside, he wanted to backout right away. “Jeno...”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s find another place...” he mumbled, tugging on Lee Jeno’s hand.

“Why,” Lee Jeno asked, his eyebrows furrowing, “you don’t like it here?”

“No, I really like it here.” Jaemin looked around, his gaze landing on the diners who were in their own little world. “It’s just that… It looks really expensive here?”

But before Lee Jeno could answer, a waiter appeared before them. “Excuse me, table for two, sir?”

“Yeah.” Lee Jeno nodded. The waiter then motioned for them to follow him, which they did albeit Jaemin did reluctantly. They were then ushered at a booth in the corner just beside the window glass, in which they sat across from each other. “Look, it looks expensive, but looks can be deceiving. Their food are actually really affordable compared to a lot of restaurants around here. Dad recommended me this place.”

“Your dad?”

“Yeah, Dad said I should bring someone I like here because this is where he and Mom frequented back in their dating days,” Lee Jeno replied, laughing out loud when he saw Jaemin turn a deep shade of red.

It still looked strange, so bizarre to see Lee Jeno smile, but the joy, the eye smile, and the sound of his laugh made Jaemin’s heart flutter and at ease. He’s not going to lie, it frightened him. It’s terrifying to be clouded by thoughts of someone. The last thing that happened to him was years ago with Mark Lee, and it left him with nothing but broken bits of his heart.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Mark Lee left a huge hole in Jaemin’s heart that he had to resort on hating the guy just to be able to get over whatever kind of romantic feelings he still had for him. Jaemin had to throw his friendship away with someone whom he’s known all his life because of Mark Lee. Sometimes, he still thinks that if he hadn’t like Mark Lee, would things turned out differently with Haechan?

And with Lee Jeno, who’s friends with both Mark Lee and Haechan, and only seemed to be with him in order to fulfill his sexual desires, Jaemin knew it’s bad news. Yes, he’d said before that it wouldn’t be bad dating Lee Jeno, but he wasn’t really serious about it. If he were to date, he’d rather date Liu Yangyang who seemed to genuinely like him, and not for his body.

Jaemin looked away, his eyes now fixated on the passersby. He has to remind himself that Lee Jeno is just doing these things to make it easier for the latter to bed him. After Lee Jeno’s done with him, he’ll just get tossed aside.

“Hey,” Lee Jeno called, “you alright?”

Setting his thoughts aside and pulling a half-hearted smile, Jaemin looked at the raven-haired guy across from him and nodded. “Yeah.”

Just in time, the waiter walked up to their table and asked for their order as they both looked through the menu. Truth to what Lee Jeno said, the prices aren’t that bad, although he would, at the very least, have to /diet/ for two days. Having no idea about the Western cuisines listed in the menu, Jaemin let Lee Jeno decide alone. When the waiter came back, they were served one serving of duck confit with potatoes and mushrooms, one serving of steak frites, two servings of nicoise salad, one simple cheese platter, and two serving of tarts.

“Isn’t this a bit too much?” Jaemin asked.

“Nothing is too much,” Lee Jeno replied, helping the waiter place their order on the table. “Which one do you like, duck confit, steak frites, or both?”

“I’ll take the steak,” Jaemin said, reaching for the plate and placing it in front of him.

“Alright.” Lee Jeno nodded, taking the plate in which the duck confit was served. “So, are you enjoying our ‘date’ so far?”

“T-This isn’t a date.”

“You said so yourself though that this is indeed a date,” Lee Jeno retorted, slicing a piece of the dish in front of him with a knife and popping it inside his mouth with a fork. “You can’t possibly forget that instantly.”

Jaemin looked down. “...It’s not as bad as I thought it would be...”

“Not as bad?” Lee Jeno asked incredulously. “Then, I have to do better on our next date.”

/Then, I have to do better on our next date./

It was like a spell cast on Jaemin’s heart, quickening his heartbeat. He pulled his chair and stood up abruptly. “I-I need to use the bathroom, excuse me.”

With large strides, Jaemin left the table and headed straight to the bathroom. Once he was inside, he looked at himself in the mirror. From the reflection, he saw that he wasn’t his usual self. He looked anxious and sad, something he hadn't felt in years. With every ounce of energy he had in his body, he forced a smile before splashing cold water on his face and wiping it with a clean face towel.

From a distance as Jaemin walked to his and Lee Jeno’s table, he noticed that the latter hadn’t touched his food since he left. Slowly, he took his spot and continued on his meal.

“Seriously, just tell me if there’s something wrong,” Lee Jeno said in concern.

“No, I’m fine, really.” Jaemin plastered a fake smile. “About your question earlier, I loved the play, and this place is great. Plus, the food is amazing.”

“Are those words really coming out of your mouth?” Lee Jeno asked as he drank from his glass of water, wiping his lips with napkin. “You don’t sound like the Na Jaemin I know.”

But Jaemin only offered silence in response to that remark and for the rest of their dinner. Even when he had insisted on paying half of the bill, Lee Jeno beat him to it by fishing out couple of bucks and giving it to the waiter, saying that the latter’s parents gave him extra money for this date before they went on a trip. The sun had completely sunk when they went out, hitting the both of them with a cold breeze of the night. Like a boy scout, Lee Jeno was prepared and had a neatly folded coat inside his bag.

When Lee Jeno got it out, the latter put it around his shoulder, to which he tried to shake off because, what if Lee Jeno catches a cold? But the raven-haired guy did not falter, so Jaemin surrendered with slumped shoulders, staring at the guy before him who seemed to know very well how to put his heart in mayhem.

“What about you?” he asked with troubled look on his eyes.

To which Lee Jeno answered with, “I’ll be alright.”

Darkness covered the entire sky of Seoul as the stars and the moon peeked above, just behind the clouds, occasionally. As they walked side by side on the sidewalk, Lee Jeno took Jaemin’s hand in his, intertwining them for the umpteenth time today. And even if Jaemin could no longer count how many times Lee Jeno took his hand, it still didn’t fail to make him feel things.

“I actually don’t have anything planned after our dinner,” Lee Jeno stated, staring ahead in a cool manner. “Is there somewhere you wanna go next or do you wanna head at my place now?”

Jaemin thought for a couple of seconds before Lee Jeno spoke again.

“Wait, did you even tell your parents you’re gonna stay at my place?”

“I did,” Jaemin mumbled, looking at the ground in embarrassment. “I bet you’re not /not/ available on Saturday. You just wanted to get in my pants as early as possible.”

“Can you really blame me?” Lee Jeno retorted, getting closer and leveling his mouth on Jaemin’s ear before whispering, “I’ve always wanted to eat you ass out and fuck you senseless until you can no longer walk.”

“S-Shut up...”

And then Lee Jeno subtly put the back of Jaemin’s hand, the one he was holding, on his bulge. “Fuck, I’m already hard just by thinking about it, baby. We’re going to be alone at my place. You can be as loud as you want. I will fuck your ass all night long.”

As if Lee Jeno’s words weren’t enough, a breeze wavered past them, sending shivers down Jaemin’s spine. He could feel the heat of Lee Jeno’s cock through the fabric of the latter’s underwear /and/ pants. “P-Pervert...”

Suddenly, Jaemin’s phone rang in his pocket. He pulled his hand from Lee jeno’s hold. Fishing the phone out, the name flashed before his eyes. And before he could even hide it out of Lee Jeno’s sight, the latter had already seen it. Nevertheless, he answered the call.

“Hello?” he called, his voice softening despite the noise. “Yangyang.”

“H-Hi, Jaemin.” The agitation was evident in Liu Yangyang’s voice, straining it.

“Why did you call?”

“I… I just wanted to hear your voice.”

“Oh.” Jaemin glanced in Lee Jeno’s way just to see the latter with darkened eyes, piercing through him. “T-That’s… That’s sweet of you...”

The phone in his hand then disappeared when it was snatched by an unamused Lee Jeno. “Jaemin is busy. Don’t call ever again. Goodbye.”

Wide-eyed and mouth agape, Jaemin muttered, “Why did you do that?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Lee Jeno fired back, his eyebrows deeply scrunched. “He was hitting on you.”

“No, he wasn’t.”

“Yes, he was.”

“You didn’t even hear the whole conversation!”

“I don’t need to hear the whole conversation to know that he’s hitting on you.” Lee Jeno clenched his teeth in annoyance. “It’s no rocket science that he was hitting on you. We both know that he likes you.”

Seeing a pissed off Lee Jeno never fails to fascinate Jaemin, especially at that moment when everything seemed okay just earlier. He didn’t even know why he was defending Liu Yangyang from Lee Jeno.

“He wasn’t hitting on me,” Jaemin stated in finality, looking back just a piercely as Lee Jeno. “And if he was, he has all the right to. After all, we’re not together.”

They were supposed to go somewhere still then head at Lee Jeno’s place by bus, but the latter seemed to snap at what he said, resulting in the raven-haired hailing a cab. Lee Jeno grabbed his hand and dragged him at the backseat of the cab, silence lingering inside the vehicle until they reached the Lee residence.

The cab stopped in front of the Lee Jeno’s house. The latter paid the fare before getting out, hand tightly wrapped around his wrist. The raven-haired guy then punched the code to the house, pinning Jaemin against the doors as soon as they entered.

Jaemin’s lips were then captured in a heated make out session, a complete contrast to the kiss he and Lee Jeno had at the bus stop earlier. It was sensual, hungry, and full of lust. Lee Jeno kept on nibbling on his bottom lip, swiping it to gain access inside his mouth, which the latter did. Their tongues clash against each other, saliva exchanging so sloppily.

“J-Jeno...” Jaemin whimpered in between kisses, to which Lee Jeno answered with more aggressive kisses, rendering him breathless and gasping for air.

When Lee Jeno went down on his neck, Jaemin felt a bite so hard he let out a strained moan, his hands flying on Lee Jeno’s raven hair, tugging on it. The latter ravished his neck. Lee Jeno bit his flesh multiple times, sucked and nibbled on it so hard it would probably leave marks that would last for a week, and Jaemin couldn’t contain the pleasure inside, resulting in him to be a moaning mess.

Lee Jeno pulled back, admiring the masterpiece he’d created on Jaemin’s neck, smirking to himself. Seeing the half-lidded eyes of Jaemin, he was no longer able to contain himself. So, he grabbed Jaemin again by the wrist and dragged him to his bedroom where he pushed the latter on his bed, unbuttoning both of their shirts.

“Let’s see what Liu Yangyang will say once he sees those marks on you,” Lee Jeno stated, caressing Jaemin’s cheek, going down to the latter’s neck. “I wonder how he’d react once he finds out who left these marks.”

With his top opened, Jaemin felt exposed, but that didn’t last long because Lee Jeno dove right on to his chest, taking in between the raven-haired guy’s lips his pink buds, sucking on them and bringing Jaemin a new height of pleasure. He felt his left nipple being twirled by Lee Jeno’s tongue, while the other was being played by the latter’s fingers. Right after the raven-haired guy was done with the left bud, his mouth latched onto the right one, sucking on it thoroughly.

“F-Fuck,” Jaemin moaned. “J-Jeno, p-please, suck them more.”

Smirking, Lee Jeno just did as he was told. He kept on sucking and playing with Jaemin’s pink nipples, lapping them and covering them with saliva until they were glistening under the dimly lit room.

“You’re mine, do you understand?” Lee Jeno asked, to which Jaemin rapidly nodded in response. “I’m going to destroy you.”

“P-Please!” Jaemin pleaded like a bitch in the heat. “Do whatever you want to me, J-Jeno. D-Destroy me...”

But Lee Jeno took his time. After he was done with the nipples, swollen and all, he left traces of hickeys all over Jaemin’s chest. It was badly bruised and bitten that Jaemin’s chest was almost entirely covered with violet and red marks.

This time, they were already both sweating. Lee Jeno, with his school uniform undone, had beads of sweat trickling from his neck down to his chest, his abs and chest showing, shimmering. He then climbed onto the bed, unbuckling Jaemin’s belt and pulling the latter’s pants and underwear down, revealing a pair of fat ass cheeks.

One strike—Jaemin jolted from the pain and the pleasure, his ass turning red from the hit. There was another strike again from Lee Jeno’s calloused hand, bringing Jaemin’s cock to life. Another strike—Jaemin’s ass cheeks bounced gracefully.

“Fuck, look at this ass,” Lee Jeno exclaimed, his eyes fixated on Jaemin’s globes, massaging them. “I just want to bury my face in between them and you out.”

“T-Then do it...” came Jaemin’s strained reply.

“Not so fast.” Lee Jeno smirked. “Why don’t you explore my body first, hm?”

As Lee Jeno lay on his back, Jaemin climbed and took the raven-haired guy’s lips in between his, shoving his tongue inside and memorizing every corner of it. He then licked and twirled his tongue on Lee Jeno’s earlobe down to the latter’s neck and sucked just as hard as Lee Jeno did on him. He also bit and nibbled on the milky white neck of the raven-haired guy, leaving red and violet marks that mimicked his own neck.

Then he went to latch onto Lee Jeno’s broad chest, taking his buds in between his lips and sucking them for a couple of minutes. He also left marks on Lee Jeno’s entire chest. Then, his eyes landed on the raven-haired guy’s musky and white armpits. Slowly, he inched his face closer, taking in the addicting manly smell of Lee Jeno’s sweat before diving his nose right in and giving it light kisses. Several seconds later, he gave it a hard and sensual lick, twirling his tongue, playing with the armpit hair using his tongue, mouth, and lips. After that, he attacked the other armpit, doing the same thing to the other.

“Fuck, baby, lick that some more,” Lee Jeno whispered. “You’re so good at this, goddamn.”

Jaemin didn’t reply. Instead, he moved his mouth and left trails of kisses on Lee Jeno’s meaty biceps, licking them occasionally, and down to his veiny arms. He then latched his mouth onto the older’s abs, to his belly button, and to his happy trail until he was facing Lee Jeno’s gigantic bulge.

Looking up, he saw that the older’s eyes were dark and heavy-lidded. Staring hard at Lee Jeno and not breaking any eye contact, he darted his tongue out, wetting the pants with his saliva teasingly.

“You fucking tease,” Lee Jeno growled, flipping them over. Now, the raven-haired guy was on top, kneeling in between Jaemin’s body. “You have the audacity to flirt with Liu Yangyang in my presence and tease me like this? You think you’ll just get away with that?”

Aggressively, Lee Jeno opened the fly of his pants and proceeded to take it off along with his underwear, his cock springing to life in front of Jaemin’s face. It still looked huge as ever, veins popping off as his reddened balls hang. Pulling its foreskin, Lee Jeno didn’t wait any longer. He shoved it past Jaemin’s lips, picking up his pace.

The first thing that Jaemin smelled was the familiar manly smell of Lee Jeno’s cock and pubes invading his nostrils. He loved it so much that he even inhaled deeply, heightening his horny state. With Lee Jeno’s sudden intrusion using his thick meaty cock, Jaemin was left gasping for air and choking on the raven-haired guy’s manhood.

“I’m going to fill your mouth with my cock that you wouldn’t be able to talk to Liu Yangyang.”

To say that Lee Jeno was harsh is an understatement. The latter was ruthless with his thrusts, relentless with his pace, and unyielding despite Jaemin’s push against his thighs. He was already tearing up, but Lee Jeno wasn’t having any of it. At the same time, his cock was rock hard, aching to be touched. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to do the angry Lee Jeno, he decided to put his hand on his own cocking and started jacking off.

“Yeah, fucking take that,” Lee Jeno snarled, fucking Jaemin’s mouth, beads of sweat running down his forehead, temples, neck, and chest. “Suck my cock just like that, baby. You’re doing so good. I love it when your lips are wrapped around my cock, baby.”

They stared at each other; Lee Jeno fucking Jaemin’s mouth relentlessly and Jaemin taking Lee Jeno’s cock, choking. Saliva was already dripping down Jaemin’s chin messily, but Lee Jeno didn’t stop until he was about to come. Since he didn’t want it to finish just yet, he pulled his cock, lowering himself and putting Jaemin’s legs on his shoulder.

“What are you going to—”

Jolting upward at the sensation of a wet, salivated muscle intruding his pink little hole, Jaemin writhed on the bed, not straining his voice. He moaned as loud as he could, crying in pleasure. When Lee Jeno started lapping on it, Jaemin’s hands flew on the older’s hair, tugging and pulling on it.

“J-Jeno!” Jaemin yelled. “P-Please, don’t s-stop!”

Obeying Jaemin’s plea, Lee Jeno didn’t falter. He repeatedly kissed the clenching hole, even biting harshly on Jaemin’s ass cheeks, which caused the latter to let out a strangled voice. He spat on the pinkish hole, darting his tongue continuously and lapping on it like a man who hadn’t eaten in so many days, swallowing the juices of Jaemin.

The pleasure that Jaemin was feeling doubled when Lee Jeno’s hand started jacking him off. Now, the raven-haired guy was stimulating his ass and cock simultaneously, and Jaemin felt at bliss, like he was ascending to the gates of heaven because of the amount of pleasure he was feeling.

“Your ass is so amazing,” Lee Jeno commented. “Why did I only eat you out now?”

“N-Not my fault.” Jaemin struggled to form coherent sentences. “Ah!”

Without warning, Lee Jeno stuck his fingers inside Jaemin’s mouth, urging for the latter to suck on it. Once the fingers were salivated enough, the raven-haired guy inserted his middle finger inside Jaemin’s hole, to which the latter scream in pain.

“Ah!” Jaemin exclaimed, trying to even his breathing. “J-Jeno, m-move...”

Heeding his request, Lee Jeno moved his finger back and forth, making Jaemin lose his sanity at the pain and the pleasure. When he’s finally adjusted, Lee Jeno added another finger, picking up his pace. And then the third came.

“Are you ready for my cock, huh?” Lee Jeno asked, his other hand slapping Jaemin’s ass, leaving a red imprint of his hand. “Are you ready to get filled to the brim, hm?”

“Y-Yes...” Jaemin whimpered, readying himself for the incoming onslaught.

Another slap against his ass resounded. “I can’t fucking hear you!”

“I-I’m ready!” he shouted over his throat. “P-Please, fuck me!”

It took Jaemin by surprise, along with a scream at the top of his lungs, when Lee Jeno inserted himself in one go. Staying still, Jaemin tried to inhale and exhale deeply, adjusting to the pain of Lee Jeno’s monster cock. However, Lee Jeno began to move even when he hadn’t yet fully adjusted.

“J-Jeno...” There were tears streaming down Jaemin’s face, his face completely scrunched up in pain, and when Lee Jeno saw those tears and the expression on his face, the raven-haired guy abruptly halted.

To Jaemin’s luck, however, his phone rang loudly. It was inside his pants. Initially, they intended to ignore it, but it kept on ringing and ringing until Lee Jeno could take it no more, fishing the phone out of Jaemin’s tossed pants.

From Jaemin’s perspective, he witnessed how Lee Jeno’s face became grim, eyes darkening. And when the raven-haired guy tossed his phone at him, telling him to answer it, his heart sank, realizing that it was Liu Yangyang who was calling.

“W-What…?”

“I said, answer it,” Lee Jeno commanded.

“But—”

“Answer it,” Lee Jeno commanded dismissively. “Don’t forget to put it on speaker.”

So, Jaemin did as he was told. “H-Hello?”

A slam—Jaemin gasped, feeling himself being split open into two as he lay on his back. With mouth agape, he looked at Lee Jeno who was staring at him, hard.

“Hey, Jaemin,” came Liu Yangyang’s reply on the other line. “Our call earlier abruptly ended. I was hesitating to call you again. By the way, who was the guy earlier? I kinda hear a guy’s voice. It seemed familiar, but I don’t know where I’ve heard it.”

“O-Oh,” Jaemin whimpered. In purpose, Lee Jeno started pounding his little hole, making his breathing ragged and uneven. “I-I’m not bu—ah!”

“Jaemin, are you alright?”

“I-I am,” he responded. “Don’t mind me.”

Just then, Lee Jeno began to slam himself harder and faster into Jaemin, trying to make the latter cry out in both pain and pleasure, wanting it to be heard by Liu Yangyang. It was twisted, but Lee Jeno was becoming more and more aroused at the thought of him and Jaemin getting caught. The thrill was exhilarating, and nothing compared to it.

It was clear that Jaemin was trying to restrain his moans, groans, and sobs by biting his bottom lip, so Lee Jeno slammed himself onto Jaemin as hard as possible, creating a loud sound of their skin-to-skin contact that he was sure Liu Yangyang could hear.

“Fuck, I wonder what he’d think once he finds out I’m fucking you while on a call with him?” Lee Jeno whispered, smirking deviously. “I’m sure he wouldn’t like that, baby.”

“By the way...” Liu Yangyang trailed off, “I really want to ask about our postponed date… I helped you win the election, and I’ve been holding onto what you said that you’d go out on a date with me at least once...”

As soon as Lee Jeno heard that, he declared, “On all fours.”

Intimidated by the commanding tone, Jaemin flipped himself on all four, the phone still in his grasp. Lee Jeno then picked up an animalistic pace, pummeling Jaemin’s inside. He continued plummeting inside Jaemin with harsh thrusts, diving deep until he could no longer see the end of his cock. Just then, Jaemin let out a strangled moan, covering his mouth in fear that Liu Yangyang might’ve heard it.

“I-I can’t talk to y-you right now,” Jaemin said. “I-I need to go now.”

Before Liu Yangyang could even reply, Jaemin hit the end button and started letting out all the moans and groans he’d been holding back since the call. And then he screamed at the top of his lungs when his most sensitive spot was found and further hit by Lee Jeno.

“Ah, right there!” Jaemin exclaimed, jacking himself off. “Don’t stop, Jeno!”

“What,” Lee Jeno remarked, continuing his pace, “you suddenly want me because you know I’m the only one who can make you feel this good, huh?”

“N-No!” Jaemin sobbed, tears streaming down his face at the amount of pleasure. “I-It’s just you!”

“I don’t wanna see you being flirty with Liu Yangyang ever again, do you hear me?!” Lee Jeno slapped Jaemin’s ass, hard. “Because if you still do, I’m going to fuck you so hard that you won’t be able to attend school for the rest of the fucking week!”

“Y-Yes!” Jaemin answered, his face buried in the pillow, voice muffled. “More!”

“Ride me.” Lee Jeno lay on his back as Jaemin climbed on top of him, putting his ass up in the air and positioning his pink hole on the raven-haired guy’s cock, sitting on it slowly at first before moving in a steady pace.

“Ah!” Jaemin was looking up, bouncing on Lee Jeno’s cock, hitting his prostate continuously as he tugged on his cock. “So good, ah!”

“I-I’m so close!” Lee Jeno exclaimed, closing his eyes and meeting Jaemin’s bounce violently, creating a slapping sound against their skin.

“I-I am, too!” Jaemin screamed, jacking himself off harder and harder. “Aaaah!”

“Fuck!” With one violent thrust upward, Lee Jeno spurted his cum inside Jaemin’s clenching hole. At the same time, Jaemin spurted on Lee Jeno’s abs, some of it landing on the latter’s broad chest.

With ragged breath, gasping for air, Jaemin lifelessly fell down right beside Lee Jeno, eyes closed. Their bodies were covered with sweat, but none of them cared. Too tired to do anything after that, Jaemin felt the comforter cover him.

And before he could even fall asleep, he felt a pair of lips against his lips, a hand on his cheeks, and a whisper in his ear. “Good night, baby.”

-

They ended up having four rounds throughout the night. Jaemin was like a bitch in heat as his body was rocked mercilessly, his ass getting pounded violently to the highest of heights by Lee Jeno without any bit of hesitation. Their ragged breath, loud moans, restricted whimpers, and sobs and cries of pleasure filled the entire room, harmonizing like a piece of music to their ears.

So, upon waking him early in the morning, the first thing Jaemin felt was the soreness of his lower behind. For a moment, he felt groggy and was confused about his whereabouts. Only did he realize that he wasn’t home and was actually at Lee Jeno’s space when the latter stirred in his sleep, completely unaware of the troubled gaze on him.

Lee Jeno looked so peaceful, so calm, like the sea after a storm as he laid there with nothing but the covers over his naked body. With tousled hair and parted lips, the raven-haired guy looked like a whole new person, a side that Jaemin has never seen before. His milky, white skin was glowing against the morning light, almost as if to blind Jaemin, but the marks and bruises all over his neck and chest made a huge contrast. And it made Jaemin blush because he was the one who made those.

There was a soft snore coming from the raven-haired guy. So, careful not to wake Lee Jeno up, Jaemin tried his best not to make a sound or anything that could possibly disturb the guy’s sleep. To his disbelief, however, he felt himself being pulled. Before Jaemin knew it, his face was buried into Lee Jeno’s chest, arms rendered unmoving by the latter’s arms around him, caging his body in. Their naked bodies were burning against each other’s touch, and Jaemin could feel the growing manhood of the guy in front of him under the covers.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Lee Jeno’s deep, groggy voice asked against the top of his head, igniting something in his lower region. The raven-haired guy still had his eyes closed.

“N-Nowhere…” Jaemin mumbled against the guy’s chest.

Pulling himself a little and opening his eyes, Lee Jeno looked at Jaemin straight in the eyes and said, “Good morning.”

With reddened cheeks, Jaemin turned his gaze elsewhere. “...Morning...”

“Why the long face, hm?” Lee Jeno whispered, taking Jaemin’s chin in between his fingers. “It’s too early in the morning for you to be frowning like that.”

Jaemin was about to respond, but he never got the chance to as his lips were suddenly attacked. It was dripping with hunger and lust at first, but the kiss slowed down, their lips molding, entangling themselves with each other. Along with this, Jaemin felt Lee Jeno’s cock poking his stomach under the covers.

Several seconds into their sloppy kiss, Lee Jeno grabbed Jaemin’s ass cheeks, to which the latter flinched and gasped due to the throbbing sensation from last night’s escapade. The older took this chance to slither his tongue inside Jaemin’s mouth, exploring the hot and addicting cavern. By this time, Lee Jeno was already rock hard, itching to shove his cock inside Jaemin’s awaiting hole.

Lee Jeno rubbed his hard on against Jaemin’s, eliciting a whiny groan from the latter. Smirking, he began to thrust with much force, the friction causing an insane amount of pleasure just by the mere feeling of their hard cocks pressing and gliding against each other. 

“This is what I meant by ‘good morning,’” Lee Jeno mumbled against Jaemin’s lips when he broke the kiss before capturing them once again.

With his lips preoccupied, Jaemin could only groan in response. He built a good amount of spit inside his mouth, rolling it down his tongue, meeting Lee Jeno’s along the way as their exchanged saliva in a sensually open-mouthed kiss. Due to the amount of pleasure Jaemin was feeling, he started writhing in bed, all needy and lewd.

When they ran out of oxygen, Jaemin was the first one to break the kiss, breathing heavily as he stared at Lee Jeno’s half-lidded eyes. “Y-You’re hard again...”

“And whose fault is that?” Lee Jeno cheekily asked, putting his arm around the back of Jaemin’s head. “Baby, come, wrap your hand around my cock. Jack it off.”

The tone of Lee Jeno’s voice was so alluring, so enticing. Jaemin felt the raven-haired guy’s hand on top of his, guiding it down to the older’s cock. Their eyes met, and Lee Jeno gave a nod, almost as if giving Jaemin some sort of permission. Gulping, Jaemin began to jack Lee Jeno’s cock slowly as the latter threw his head back, letting out a series of moans.

“Fuck, yes,” Lee Jeno exclaimed, turning his head in Jaemin’s way as he licked his lips. “Yeah, baby, just like that. Tighten your hold. Yeah, like that. Now, pull on the foreskin. Fuck, my baby is so good at everything he does.”

“L-Like this…?” Jaemin fastened his pace, looking at Lee Jeno for an approval. When the latter couldn’t say a response because of how good it felt, Jaemin put his other hand on his cock, stroking both of their manhood in synchronization.

“Yes, fuck!” Lee Jeno screamed, biting Jaemin’s neck quite harshly more than he intended, causing the latter to shriek in agony. Within a second, there came a series of spurts from Lee Jeno’s cock, landing on his own broad chest and washboard abs, invading Jaemin’s sense of smell.

It didn’t take for Jaemin to cum as well right after as he moaned so loud he probably disturbed Lee Jeno’s neighbors’ sleep. All of it landed on the covers, staining it. They laid there, catching their breath.

Fascinated by the specimen in front of him, Jaemin wandered his eyes on Lee Jeno’s godlike facial features down to the latter’s sculpted body. He saw the cum on the raven-haired guy’s chest and stomach, glimmering against the light, tempting him to get a taste of. Without thinking, Jaemin inched his head closer to Lee Jeno’s abs, eyes still on him, sensually licking the cum off of the latter’s washboard abs.

It took Lee Jeno by surprise, but his cock began to come alive again just by seeing Jaemin lick his cum off of his body. The latter didn’t let any remnants of Lee Jeno’s bodily fluid be on sight, making sure to take them in his mouth and swallow them.

“Look at these marks,” Lee Jeno said after a short while, brushing his fingers against the bruised skin on Jaemin’s neck and chest, smiling proudly to himself as he gazed at his masterpiece. “I made all of these.”

Jaemin just lowered his head in embarrassment. “Y-You talk too much.”

“I can’t believe you still get shy around me after the things we’ve done together.” Lee Jeno chuckled, pulling Jaemin against his chest once again, closing his eyes. “Come on, it’s still too early. Let’s sleep some more.”

-

The second time Jaemin woke up that same day was around noon. He sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes and yawning lazily. His clothes, along with Lee Jeno’s, from last night were all over the floor, scattered everywhere. The white button down polo top was laying on the floor, full of creases. A couple of steps away from it was Jaemin’s slacks together with his underwear. He wandered his eyes inside the room, and that was the only he was able to take in the surroundings.

Lee Jeno’s room was oozing of modesty and warmth, a complete contrast to the latter’s mysterious and enigmatic personality. With its primary color scheme being brown and white, it brought a sense of familiarity and coziness, as if trying to welcome Jaemin home for some reason. Across the room, there was a guitar that hung neatly on the white, spotless wall on the far left, while the middle and right side had mounted Nakashima shelf full of a wide variety of action figures Jaemin can’t even name. Near the door, another shelf stood, containing thick textbooks and contemporary novels and comic books.

Turning his head, Jaemin saw a spinet piano, a cactus pot sitting alone on top. On the other side near the window, there was a study table with a mug filled with pen, stacks of notebooks and books in one corner, an alarm clock, a study lamp, and a picture of a young Lee Jeno, smiling, his eyes disappearing as they turned like a pair of crescent moon.

He stared at it, taking in the unrestrained smile, the genuine happiness. It was a sight to behold, and Jaemin couldn’t help but look at the sleeping figure next to him. If there was something that would best describe vulnerability, it’d be Lee Jeno’s sleeping state. It almost seemed so unreal how the terrifying Lee Jeno can look like the polar opposite of his persona with just tousled hair and parted lips.

Lee Jeno, however, is nothing of the sort.

The real Lee Jeno, as Jaemin experienced, is like a siren—irresistible, enchanting, and mysterious with his deep, honey voice that seems to lure anyone who hears it, just like a siren singing in the middle of the ocean. And Jaemin felt like a bewitched sailor who failed to cover his ears before he even had the chance to.

With a deep intake of breath, Jaemin rubbed his face on his palms. He doesn’t know just how far he already is down the rabbit hole, doesn’t know how he’d be able to crawl out or if it’s still even possible to do so at this point. One thing is for sure though, whatever it is that he and Lee Jeno have has to stop.

The sky looked gloomy, nimbus clouds blocking the sunlight and any possible warmth Jaemin could take. Strange, he thought, knowing how vibrant the morning felt. But Jaemin also knows that things can change just as fast as a snap of a finger, just as quick as how his and Lee Jeno’s /relationship/ escalated.

Despite the dark ambience outside, Jaemin felt blue—the bluest he’s ever felt since he found out about the relationship between Mark Lee and Haechan, the bluest he’s ever felt since he had to cut ties with Haechan, his former best friend. If he was confused before, now he no longer is after his and Lee Jeno’s date, after that intimate night they shared due to the deep shade of red he felt throughout the previous day. And Jaemin would be down to do anything just to feel a different hue, a different hue that isn’t red or blue.

Letting out a sigh, he looked at the picture frame sitting on the study table again, his eyes softening. Then, his eyes landed on the alarm clock, his eyes becoming wide when he realized that it was already noon. Hastily, he removed the covers from his naked body, grimacing at the sudden jolt of pain coming from his lower behind. That, however, didn’t stop Jaemin from gathering his things from the floor. He wore his underwear in a flash, followed by his slacks. Eventually, he put on his creased white top and strapped his bag on his shoulders.

Jaemin went to the bathroom, located a couple of steps away from the main door of Lee Jeno’s room, to look at himself, his hand brushing against the red and purple marks all over his neck and chest, cursing profanities at himself for getting carried away by his horny state and going all out. They’re very noticeable, and he was sure that if he were to come home in that state, his parents would know that he had sex. So, even if he didn’t want to do it, he grabbed a scarf from Lee Jeno’s closet and wrapped it around his neck.

Ignoring the puzzled stares from other people, Jaemin limped his way home, hiding a quarter of his face with the scarf he /borrowed/ from Lee Jeno. While on board the bus, he kept wincing every time it would drive past through humps and hollows on the ground that he decided to give up the seat and just hold onto the railing instead. As he got off, it started to drizzle, but Jaemin didn’t have enough energy to run or look for a shade.

With each step he took, the drizzle only seemed to grow stronger, until it turned into a full out rain, soaking Jaemin from head to toe. His bottom hurt so much he could barely walk, and it made Jaemin wince in pain with each passing second. With his mind going haywire, his physical body aching, and his heart sinking, Jaemin could only handle so much. In the end, tears welled up in his eyes, gushing down his cheeks. And Jaemin, despite the harsh cold hitting him and sending shivers down his spine, was thankful for the rain for masking his tears as the sky cried together with him. He could still feel the ghost of Lee Jeno’s lips against his, could still feel the ghost of Lee Jeno’s arms around him, but Jaemin couldn’t feel the heat, couldn’t feel the warmth that he so desperately needed at that moment.

The way Jaemin was feeling like Lee Jeno left remnants of Lee Jeno himself to him so he can be forever reminded of the raven-haired guy wasn’t helping at all. Just what did he get himself into? And of all the sexcapades they had, why was he feeling like a complete and utter shit now? Of all the times he had his lips against Lee Jeno’s very own, why did his heart want to leap through his shirt now?

Perhaps, it’s all because he /might/ have romantic feelings for Lee Jeno. When did it start, Jaemin has no idea, but he knows that these feelings wouldn’t do any good. He needs to finish whatever it is he started, knowing that Lee Jeno only wanted his body to satisfy the latter’s sexual needs. He needs to get through his thick skull that Lee Jeno only sees him as nothing but someone to play with.

Jaemin felt so low, so low he wished the ground would swallow him. No longer being able to endure the autumn air and rain, he walked in the shade of an establishment, dripping wet as the passersby stared at him in wonder. He was sniffling and hiccuping, tears streaming down his face. He knew he couldn’t go home in that state. His parents would be suspicious and worried. Slowly, Jaemin fished out his phone from his pocket. It was wet, but not so much as it could’ve been broken. Good thing that his slacks shielded it from the rain. He then hit the familiar contact on his phone as he brought it close to his ears in spite of multiple missed calls and texts from his parents. There was no point in rushing, he realized, since he was already late. Might as well fix himself first.

“Hello?” the person on the other line greeted, unsure. “Jaemin?”

“T-Taeyong-hyung?” Jaemin called through the hiccup and sniffle.

“Hey.” The alarm on Taeyong’s voice was very evident. “Are you crying?”

But Jaemin ignored the question, asking, “C-Can y-you please p-pick me u-up?”

“Of course, are you alright?” Taeyong answered. There was some shuffling in the background, and Jaemin could hear another voice.

“I-I n-need you, hyung...” Jaemin stated in defeat as droplets of rain poured down from the ends of his hair, tears still flowing down from his eyes.

“I’ll be there I promise. Where are you right now?”

“I-I’m in Sanghan Ma-eum s-street, in f-front of a t-tailor s-shop,” he replied through the sound of the pouring rain. “P-Please, c-come quickly.”

“I will, alright?” There was urgency in Taeyong’s voice. “Hang in there.”

As soon as the call was dropped, Jaemin squatted and hugged himself, his body shaking from the cold. His lips had turned white, trembling. He had his head down, watching the droplets of water hit the pavement. Not even ten minutes later, there was a cab that stopped in front of him, a concerned Lee Taeyong getting out from the backseat, clad in warm clothes and carrying an umbrella. But the latter wasn’t alone. There, standing with Taeyong was Jung Jaehyun. But despite the oddity of them being together, Jaemin couldn’t bring himself to ask.

“Jaemin?!” Taeyong hastily ran up to him, bringing the umbrella over his head. “What happened?”

“Taeyong, ask later.” Jung Jaehyun said in intervention, removing his own coat and draping it around Jaemin. Taeyong took his bag, while Jung Jaehyun was about to remove the familiar scarf around the latter’s neck but was abruptly stopped. “Hey, let’s remove this so I can put my coat around your shoulders comfortably, alright?”

Not having enough strength to fight, Jaemin let his senior remove the soaked scarf, revealing the marks that Lee Jeno put on his skin throughout the night, which took both Jung Jaehyun and Taeyong by surprise. Between the two, Jung Jaehyun chose not to comment, but Taeyong, of course, didn’t know how to read the atmosphere.

“Jaemin, what the hell are those?”

“Lee Taeyong,” Jung Jaehyun finally snapped, to which Taeyong was taken aback. “I said ask later. Let’s get him home first.”

“N-No...” Jaemin protested. “P-Please, n-not home...”

“Alright, alright,” Jung Jaehyun replied, squatting down to reach Jaemin’s eye level. “Then, we’ll bring you at my place, okay?”

Like a kid obeying his father, Jaemin nodded in understanding, rising from his position as Jung Jaehyun assisted him, while Taeyong hailed another cab for them. Jaemin and Taeyong sat in the backseat while Jung Jaehyun rode shotgun, heading to the Jungs’ residence. Upon reaching the house, the latter paid the fair, adding extra for the inconvenience since Jaemin soaked one of the seats.

Jung Jaehyun punched the code, getting towels and extra clothes for Jaemin, before motioning for the latter to shower in order to avoid catching a cold. Jaemin gladly did so, taking as much time as he could. Surprisingly, the clothes his senior gave him fit him well. When he emerged to the living room, still limping, he saw Taeyong trying to pry off Jung Jaehyun’s hands from him. Jaemin cleared his throat, startling the two.

“Jaemin,” Taeyong abruptly rose from the couch. “I didn’t notice you there.”

But Jaemin just stood in silence, his bloodshot eyes gazing at the floor.

“I removed all your things from your bag, and I laundry it with your school uniform,” Jung Jaehyun stated, his gaze boring into Jaemin, like a cryptographer trying to make sense out of a code. “You should rest for a bit. I’ll heat up the Manduguk I cooked earlier.”

“I-I can’t stay for long...”

“It’s alright,” Taeyong interjected, “I called your mom and told her you are at my place using your phone. Come, let’s get you to Jaehyun’s room.”

Jaemin nodded slowly, blinking, as he let himself be assisted to Jung Jaehyun’s bedroom. He was then carefully lain and tucked in bed by Taeyong.

“What did Mom say, hyung?” he asked in a small, fragile tone as Taeyong took a seat beside him.

“She said she thought you were at a classmate’s house because you told her you apparently had to work on a school project,” Taeyong answered, brushing his hair. “You got me really worried...”

“Sorry, hyung,” Jaemin replied. “I didn’t mean to scare you...”

“It’s okay, so as long as you’re fine.”

“But, if you don’t mind me asking,” Jaemin started, “why are you with Jaehyun-hyung…?”

This instantly made Taeyong’s face flushed. The latter then avoided Jaemin’s gaze, turning his head away, looking for a possible way out. He thought that silence would be enough response for the younger to let go of the topic, but when he looked at Jaemin again, the latter was still waiting expectantly.

“W-We just had a meeting regarding the upcoming events and the council itself...”

“Just the two of you?”

“Y-Yes!” Taeyong exclaimed defensively, his voice louder than he intended. “He’s the president, I’m the vice president. What’s so bad about that?”

“Nothing,” Jaemin mumbled. “It just doesn’t sound believable.”

“You punk, why do you keep turning the topic about me, huh? It’s you who should explain. Why were you out in the rain crying with hickeys all over your neck wearing your school uniform from yesterday?” Taeyong scolded. “Wait, you didn get...did you…?”

“No, of course not,” Jaemin clarified right away.

“Well, thank God.” Taeyong sighed in relief, fishing Jaemin’s phone and handing it to the latter. “You’ve got loads of unopened texts. Don’t worry I don’t know your phone’s password. When I called your mom using your phone, I used the emergency keypad.”

Nodding, Jaemin saw that there was truth to what his senior said. There were indeed a lot of unopened messages, some of them from his parents while most of them from Lee Jeno. Hesitantly, he opened the series of messages, his heart hammering once again.

/Baby, where did you go?/ the first message read, tugging on Jaemin’s heartstring. Nonetheless, he tried to remain indifferent, knowing that Lee Jeno was just doing that to mess with him. It was then followed by numerous texts.

/I had a really great time, and I’m sure you did, too. Maybe we can do ‘it’ frequently?/

/By ‘it,’ you can choose between the two things we did yesterday, date or sex./

/Are you home already? Does anything hurt? Was I too rough?/

/You should’ve woken me up. We could’ve grabbed something to eat first, and maybe I could’ve dropped you off./

/Hey, it’s raining. Do you have an umbrella with you?/

/So, we’re back to you ignoring me again, huh? It’s alright, though. I’m too happy to even get mad at you. Rest well, baby. I’ll see you on Monday./

It made Jaemin want to hit his head against the wall, his eyes faltering. How is he supposed to start fixing things when Lee Jeno still make it hard for him? How is he supposed to end things with Lee Jeno when the latter continues to make his heart flutter and do all those stupid things he sees in movies?

“So, are you going to explain or are we just going to do a staring contest here?”

“I think I have an idea what happened,” came the interjection of a deep, gruffy voice. Just in time, Jung Jaehyun walked in carrying a bed tray filled with a bowl of Manduguk, a glass of water, and a spoon and a pair of chopsticks placed neatly beside the bowl. The council president then placed it in between Jaemin’s thighs as the latter sat right up, careful not to wiggle too much “Did you and Jeno fight?”

“H-Huh…?” Jaemin went wide-eyed in horror as Taeyong’s eyebrows scrunched, lips pressing into a thin line.

“What are you saying?” Taeyong asked, still lost. “Why would you suddenly mention Jeno here?”

“Because they’re boyfriends…?” Jaehyun replied, the question lingering in the air. “Plus, the scarf he was wearing is Jeno’s. I’ve seen that kid wear it several times.”

“What?” Taeyong exclaimed. “Jaemin, what’s this little shit saying?”

“Wow, calling me a little shit after we had an intense make out session earlier? Real mature, Lee Taeyong,” Jaehyun fired back. “If you weren’t such a tsundere, we would’ve had some action like Jaemin here and Jeno did.”

“What...”

“Shut up!”

Jaehyun just chuckled. “Seriously, what happened? Did you and Jeno fig—”

“Wait, Lee Jeno? That little gremlin of yours?”

“Lee Taeyong, if you don’t stop interrupting me, I’ll kiss the living daylight out of you in front of Jaemin,” Jaehyun threatened that made Taeyong blushing hard and quiet. The former then turned to Jaemin. “So, what happened?”

“N-Nothing happened...” Jaemin took a deep breath, avoiding his seniors’ gaze. “J-Jeno and I aren’t together…”

“Yeah?”

Gulping nervously, Jaemin finally looked at Taeyong and Jung Jaehyun, trying to read them through their eyes and facial expression. Taeyong looked so confused, so lost, not knowing anything at all. And Jaemin felt bad. He really did, considering how Taeyong basically became his brother figure throughout high school. When he’s in need, Taeyong is always there, ready to drop anything, everything just to aid him.

And although he’s always felt a little distaste toward Jung Jaehyun for being friends with the people he dislikes, Jaemin still felt horrible at how the former looked so worried, so concerned over his well-being. Jung Jaehyun has always treated him like a little brother, but Jaemin only saw the surface level of the former—the friend of the ones he claims to hate so much.

Jaemin wanted to kiss and tell, wanted to finally lift the weights off of his shoulders. Don’t get him wrong, though. Feeling Lee Jeno’s lips against his and having the latter’s hands around him were probably two of the best things he’d ever experienced intimately in his entire life. When they’re in their own little world, everything feels intoxicating, as if he’s downing every liquor in the shelf from the bar. The moans, the friction, the excitement—all of it feels so otherworldly. But Jaemin knows that one way or another, it would end terribly. Maybe not now, but sooner.

With each passing day, Jaemin wonders how long does he have until everything eventually turns into a complete havoc. And while he could still see the light at the end of the tunnel despite having said before that he doesn’t know just how far he is down the rabbit hole, he wants to finally acknowledge the red flags and warning signs and take them seriously.

Now, Jaemin is determined to finally concede to Lee Jeno and confess to Jung Jaehyun about the school fund he used. How he’s going to pay, he has no idea. All that he wants is to end things for the better. He just needs a little more time, but he will eventually tell the truth because in the grand scheme of things, he needs to own up to his mistakes to finally have a peace of mind.

“But I’ll tell both of you everything, hyung,” Jaemin mumbled under his breath, terrified. “I will tell everything there is to know, but please, give me a little more time.”

-

“Oh, fuck!”

Hands against the shower walls for support, saliva dripping down his chin, and moan slipping past his lips, Jaemin found himself bent over, getting dicked down yet again for the umpteenth time this week by Lee Jeno inside the empty shower room of their school. The sound of their skin slapping against one another, accentuated by the wetness, resounded throughout the entire room, harmonizing with the sound of the water pouring down their bodies.

The pleasure is still the same, still addicting as the first time they did it. It almost felt like the physical gratification is some sort of gravity that weighs him down, that pulls him down, drowning him in the vast ocean of pleasure, and Lee Jeno is an anchor that sets him in place.

“I’m cumming!” Lee Jeno exclaimed. Within seconds, Jaemin felt the raven-haired guy’s muscles and limbs contracting, grasp on his hips tightening. “Fuck!”

At the same time, Jaemin also reached his peak, untouched. He whimpered when Lee Jeno slowly pulled out, feeling the cum inside his ass leak out. Due to exhaustion, his knees felt weak, causing him to lose his balance. Good thing that Lee Jeno was able to catch up before he even hit the floor.

“You look so tired,” Lee Jeno commented as the latter stared at him, holding his waist firmly. “I’ll clean you up, alright?”

Because Jaemin had no energy to protest, he let himself be cleaned up. He let him wash his hair, his face, and his entire body. After shower, he was scooped like a child and was brought in the changing room with a towel over his head and another towel wrapped around his lower body.

It’s been a week since his breakdown under the rain, and frankly, Jaemin hasn’t been any better. When he got home that day, it was already three in the afternoon because Taeyong and Jung Jaehyun didn’t let him go without resting. His parents berated and reprimanded him for not texting or calling them, and he couldn’t bring himself to answer any of their questions. So, without defending himself, he let their words kick and punch him until it was too much to bear.

Lee Jeno tried calling him during the weekend, but although Jaemin wanted to hear the raven-haired guy’s voice so much, he restrained himself, afraid that it would get him used to hearing Lee Jeno’s voice over the phone. He didn’t want that. The last thing he wants is to crave for something he knows would break him in the end. But he didn’t think it would be this hard, especially now that Lee Jeno is making it hard for him by doing all these gestures that render him weak and falling further.

There are a lot of questions that constantly bombard Jaemin’s mind. What if he never spent the school fund for his personal gain? What if he just asked Dejun, Taeyong, or Ten for money in order to buy that button down polo? What if he never ran for a seat in the student council just to piss Huang Renjun off?

But it’s too late. Nothing in the past is ever going to change. The only thing he can do is to do better for the future, depending on what moves he’s going to make. He still hasn’t told anyone yet because he hasn’t found the right time. Now, as he stared at Lee Jeno who was drying his hair with a towel, he couldn’t help but think what will happen between them once he’s admitted it to the council.

“What, is there something on my face?” Lee Jeno suddenly said in wonder.

Eyes fluttering, Jaemin lowered his head, staring at the ground. “W-We need to get out of here quickly. Your friends might be wondering why you’re taking so long, and Dejun might start looking for me soon.”

“I just don’t understand why we need to hide from them.”

If Jaemin were to be asked, he’d say that he and Lee Jeno aren’t really hiding. Clearly, there’s nothing to hide. They just go on with their lives after fucking each other, and that’s all there ever is. But Jaemin didn’t mention that, or anything along those lines, because he didn’t want any confrontation.

“Because your friends hate me.”

“They don’t,” Lee Jeno replied almost immediately. “They dislike what you do, yes, but they don’t hate you.”

That took Jaemin by surprise, considering what he’s done to Haechan. Moreover, Mark Lee and Lucas Wong have always been upfront what they feel about him. He’s sure that Haechan hates him, although the latter never did anything to express that. And he’s also sure that Mark Lee and Lucas Wong’s opinions about him are driven by hate.

Jaemin, however, did not reply any more. Once Lee Jeno was done drying his hair, he stood up and walked to his locker, getting his uniform out. With his back facing Lee Jeno, he wore his undergarment and proceeded to put on his school uniform, receiving side comments from the raven-haired guy about how plump his ass was and how the latter would love to tap it again only if they didn’t have another class.

By the time they were clothed, Jaemin said, “I-I’ll go ahead first. Leave after a couple of minutes.”

“There’s no need for that. It’s not like there’s going to be people around,” Jeno retorted. “I’ll go with you just until at the end of the hall...to make sure you’re okay, and then we can part ways right after since I need to grab something.”

“No—”

“I’m going with you, and that’s final,” Lee Jeno stated in a commanding tone, to which Jaemin just sighed in response. He knows that once Lee Jeno is determined to do something, the latter can’t be stopped. “Can you walk properly?”

“Yeah, I can manage.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

They walked outside the changing room, Jaemin turning his head sideways to see if there was anyone around. When he saw nobody, he breathed a sigh of relief, while Lee Jeno snaked his arm around him.

“What are you doing?!” he whisper-yelled, trying to remove it. “What if people see us?!”

“There’s nobody around,” Lee Jeno fired back, proceeding to walk and dragging him by the waist until they reached the end of the hall. Before they parted ways, Lee Jeno stole a long sloppy kiss from him, rendering him breathless. “See you later.”

Lowering his head, Jaemin nodded, feeling his heart thump inside his chest loud enough to set his cheeks ablaze. And then there was another kiss on the cheek before Lee Jeno finally walked away. Longingly, he stared at the retreating figure of the raven-haired guy, knowing all too well that whatever they have right now isn’t going to last any longer.

Jaemin turned on his heel, walking in the direction of his homeroom, a bit uncomfortable at the throbbing feeling on his lower back. When he entered the room, he saw Dejun fanning himself.

“Where the hell have you been?” his friend asked, placing a bottle of coke in front of his table as he sat down. “I’ve been waiting for you. What took you so long?”

Grabbing the bottle and twisting it open, he said, “I saw a junior being a little too suspicious, so I had to intervene. No worries though, I’ve solved the problem.”

“So… I hope you’re not busy after school. I really wanna try that new restaurant on seventh street.” Dejun took a swig from his bottle of coke. “Ten-hyung and Taeyong-hyung will be going. You can’t say no.”

“You didn’t try it without me?”

“Don’t feel special. I only backed out because I just suddenly felt tired, okay?”

“Whatever.” Jaemin playfully rolled his eyes. “But really though, I’d love to, but I don’t have money.”

“I got you, hoe. Just don’t tell them. They have jobs, they can pay for themselves.”

“Wait.” Jaemin halted, facing his friend, his eyebrows contorted to that of confusion. “They have jobs?”

“You don’t know?” Dejun retorted back, surprised in pretense. “Ten-hyung works as a sugar baby for Johnny Seo and Hendery Wong, and Taeyong-hyung works as a personal assistant of Jung Jaehyun. Taeyong-hyung probably gets dicked down on the daily, but you didn’t hear that from me.”

Forcing a laugh, Jaemin’s grasp on the bottle hardened, causing for some of its content to spill on their table.

“What are you doing?!” Dejun exclaimed in alarm, fishing out a couple of sheets of napkin before dabbing them on the wet table. “You’re really getting weirder and weirder every single day.”

“...Sorry...” Jaemin mumbled as Dejun stood up and threw the napkins inside the trash before settling down beside him once again. “But yeah, count me in.”

“I was kidding. Anyway, I’ll text Ten-hyung and Taeyong-hyung that we’ll meet them in the pavilion.”

“...Say…” Jaemin started after a short while, “...if Taeyong-hyung and Jung Jaehyun are, hypothetically, sleeping together...would you be mad…?”

Slightly surprised by the question, Dejun scrunched his eyebrows, tilting his head in wonder. “Well, you know how much we’ve established that we hate Jung Jaehyun. I think that’s pretty self-explanatory.”

Jaemin swallowed. They’ve also established how much they hate Lee Jeno’s clique, and that, too, is pretty self-explanatory.

“...What if Taeyong-hyung, hypothetically, likes Jung Jaehyun…?”

“What are you saying?” Dejun chuckled, staring at him incredulously. “Okay, maybe they really are fucking each other’s brains out, but I’m pretty sure that’s all there ever is. Taeyong-hyung despises Jung Jaehyun to the bones. There’s no way he actually likes Jung Jaehyun.”

“What about Ten-hyung?”

“Well, for starters, Johnny Seo and Hendery Wong are okay. I don’t really mind them.”

Why was he even asking these questions in the first place? It’s not like there’s actually something between him and Lee Jeno. What they have was and is never clarified, because there’s really nothing to clarify. But in all honesty, Jaemin tried to. He tried to clear if they were just two people who enjoyed having sex with each other or are they something more. However, every time gets to muster up the courage to ask, he always chickens out the last minute.

“...But I mean,” Dejun started again out of nowhere that made Jaemin perk up, “if he happens to actually like Jung Jaehyun, I guess I’d just have to live with it?”

“...Like, be friends with him…?”

“I guess so,” Dejun replied. “I mean, the only reason I don’t like him is because of Taeyong-hyung himself. And now that you mentioned it, it really isn’t that far fetched. Oh my God, you’re right!”

“What?”

“Jung Jaehyun is all he ever talks about. Plus, they’re always at each other’s throats, but in the end, they always got each other’s back.”

There was a threatening smile playing on Jaemin’s lips. “...You’re right...”

“And if for some God forsaken reason you happened to fall in love with, let’s say, Lee Jeno,” Dejun said that made Jaemin almost choke on his own spit, “I guess I’d also just have to deal with it.”

“...What…?” Jaemin’s cheeks reddened, and as if on cue, Lee Jeno emerged from outside, his raven hair pushed back, eyes meeting his in a meaningful glance. Instantly, Jaemin lowered his head, trying to calm the erratic beat of his heart.

Is this a sign…?

“Chill, it’s just a hypothetical statement,” Dejun commented, fishing out his phone and composing a message on their KakaoTalk group chat. “But yeah, as I was saying, I support you guys, okay? As long as you guys are happy, I’m fine with that. I’m only a hating ass bitch to those you hate.”

That’s already an approval. He’s pretty sure that Ten wouldn’t really care that much, and Taeyong...well, Taeyong already has an idea that there’s at least a tiny bit of something between him and Lee Jeno. But then, just because he finally has his friends’ approval, doesn’t mean that Lee Jeno would like him back.

Well, now that they’re going to go out, he figured it would be the best time to tell his friends about him and Lee Jeno. Of course, the thing about him spending the school fund would be excluded. It can wait until tomorrow. For now, he wants to start shedding lights to his friends, then tomorrow he’ll tell Jung Jaehyun about the whole fiasco, and then tell his friends.

Slowly, he raised his head up, turning to look at Lee Jeno who was listening to Lucas Wong say something. Before he could even face front, Lee Jeno’s gaze caught him, pulling a tight-lipped smile. There was no hint of mischievousness, no hint of anythat that involved them sneaking around to feel each other up. And if Jaemin weren’t sitting on his designated seat, he probably would’ve been down to his knees due to Lee Jeno’s effect on him.

Jaemin clutched his heart. Calm down, you stupid heart, he thought. But there was nothing he could do about it. He attempted to keep his breathing even, drawing a long intake of breath before exhaling and fanning himself with his hands.

“You’re red. Are you sick?” Dejun asked in wonder, putting his hand over Jaemin’s forehead then on the latter’s neck. “You don’t seem like it though. Do you just hot?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“But you just showered, and the room’s well-ventilated. The AC is on.”

“Don’t mind me. You know how my body works sometimes.”

As Dejun nodded, Jaemin’s phone suddenly buzzed inside his slacks, signaling that there was a message. Upon fishing it out, he immediately saw that it was a message from Lee Jeno. Glancing in Dejun way discreetly, he opened the text.

/Let’s go out after class./

It brought a wistful smile on Jaemin’s lips. How he wishes what he and Lee Jeno has is something that can last. However, whatever they have is like a ticking bomb, waiting to explode all over the place and injure the both of them. The worst thing is that Jaemin doesn’t know how long they have until it turns into a complete catastrophe and break him like a fragile branch of a tree.

/Can’t today. I will go out with my friends,/ he wrote before hitting the send button. It would be great if Lee Jeno only meant go out, but knowing how the latter’s mind works based on their interactions from the very beginning, there’s an underlying meaning behind that innocent approach: Sex, because that’s how it’s always been. That’s where their relationship has always revolved around, sex.

/Aw, too bad. Well, we basically spent the entire week anyway, that’s more than enough for me. But what about tomorrow, are you free?/

Biting his bottom lip, Jaemin ghosted his fingers over the surface of his phone’s screen, his mind going haywire as to what to reply. This, this is one of the reasons why it’s so hard for Jaemin to get out of their situation. In a way, he’s gotten used to this /seemingly/ caring side of Lee Jeno, like the latter somehow cares about him and his well-being. But that isn’t the case at all, and Jaemin never forgets to keep reminding himself just that.

/I don’t know yet,/ he wrote, his eyes flickering from his phone to the windows, witnessing a group of pigeons fly across the sky so freely, unlike him who basically has his hands pinned behind his back. Tomorrow, however, he’d finally be free from whatever is holding him back, just like those birds.

/Alright, tell me when you’re free, okay? My parents won’t be home for the whole day tomorrow./

Jaemin shook his head slightly. It shouldn’t have disappointed him, providing how he’s reminded himself countless times how Lee Jeno just wants him for sex, but it did. Because in the deepest parts of him, he’s still hoping that some way, somehow, Lee Jeno feels something for him far deeper than sexual urges.

/Yeah, sure,/ Jaemin replied.

Suddenly, Liu Yangyang emerged from his sight, attempting to get his full attention. “Hey, Jaemin. Can we talk…?”

But before Jaemin could even come up to excuse himself, their chemistry teacher entered the class and started their lecture.

It was one of those rare moments where Jaemin was glad that he was in class. At least, the discussion can be a great distraction to him for the time being. Even Dejun was a bit surprised at his attentiveness but decided to shrug it off. At the end of the school hours, Jaemin immediately got up and dragged Dejun outside their room but not before giving a tight-lipped smile in Lee Jeno’s way discreetly, to which he earned a knowing gaze.

When they reached the pavilion, they were already out of breath. Jaemin tried to hide behind the pillars, watching the exit of the main building. There were a lot of students around, and most of them were coming from there. Several seconds later, Jaemin let out a long sigh, relieved that Liu Yangyang wasn’t able to follow them.

“I’ve told you so many times to just reject him,” Dejun exclaimed in irritation, sitting at one of the long tables. He got his phone out. “You make me feel like my intelligence isn’t enough for you, and that shit hurts.”

“...I’m actually planning to reject him...”

“Wait.” Dejun halted, whipping his head at him. “Really?”

Jaemin nodded, playing with his fingers on the table. “Yeah, I think I’m being too much. Liu Yangyang doesn’t deserve what I’ve been doing to him. It’s better if I just stop leading him on for my personal gain. That way, he’d be able to meet new people.”

“Wow, are you sure you’re not sick?”

“Why?” Jaemin asked with a little exaggeration, feeling aggrieved by his friend’s tone. “Am I not allowed to feel guilty?”

And it’s the truth. Jaemin has been feeling guilty, ever since he realized that he has romantic feelings for Lee Jeno. It felt like he was finally on Liu Yangyang’s shoes, being led on by the person who you like, and possibly love. And frankly, it hurts. It fucking hurts when you feel like you’re trailing after someone who’s never going to stop and turn around just to face you.

But at least, Jaemin was able to feel Lee Jeno’s warmth, was able to feel the latter’s lips against his. He was able to dive into Lee Jeno’s world, was able to see the latter’s different sides that not everyone has seen yet. Compared to Liu Yangyang, he’s more fortunate to be able to experience all those things. The only thing Liu Yangyang was able to get from him was a long kiss. Even now, Jaemin still hasn’t gone to that date with him that they talked about before.

“Well, that’s good then,” Dejun replied, typing on his phone distractedly. “At least, he’d finally stop bothering you.”

“...I know...”

“But did giving him a chance ever crossed your mind?” Dejun turned his body to him. “I mean, Liu Yangyang can be pretty dense, but he isn’t that bad at all.”

Oh how many times has that thought entered his mind. The past weeks, it’s all ever Jaemin could think about. To be fair, anyone would be lucky enough to call Liu Yangyang their boyfriend. Yes, the latter can get very annoying sometimes, but there is so much more to him than just that. For starters, Liu Yangyang is cute, together with his cute smile that can make your heart melt and his dorky personality. In addition to that, he’s intelligent when it comes to academics, although he can be pretty daft when it comes to real life, but hey, it’s just another thing to love about him. Lastly, there’s just something about Liu Yangyang the way he carries himself, as if he can turn your bad day upside down.

At first, Jaemin overlooked those, focusing on things about the Chinese guy that would be beneficial to him. As time went by, however, he began to see Liu Yangyang in a new light. In all honesty, Jaemin wishes he could teach his heart how to love.

Because with Liu Yangyang, there’s no complication. There’s nothing indefinite, nothing that can potentially break Jaemin’s heart, knowing that the guy is head over heels for him. It would be a lot easier. Unfortunately, you can’t teach the heart who to love. And somehow, it has fallen deeply in love with Lee Jeno.

“...What’s with the sudden question…?” Jaemin gulped as he lowered his head, his eyes flickering down the table. “...I-I thought you don’t like him…?”

“Why are you always putting words in my mouth?” Dejun asked. “I don’t /don’t/ like him. I just pity the guy because he’s always trailing you around like a lost puppy, and I know that you don’t actually feel anything for him.”

“To answer your question, yes, it crossed my mind.” Jaemin sighed heavily. “But I don’t wanna lie to myself, you know? I already do that to a lot of people. If I ever date, it’d be with someone I like, and hopefully, that person also likes me back.”

“Do you have someone in mind?”

/Lee Jeno,/ Jaemin thought. /But he doesn’t like me back./ “None that I can think of.”

Just in time, Taeyong and Ten appeared in their line of sight, taking the seat across them, catching their breath. But they weren’t the only ones there. Jung Jaehyun followed suit, taking the space beside Taeyong whose cheeks were set ablaze.

“What took you so long?!” Dejun exclaimed, holding his arm in place and showing to the two seniors his wristwatch, not caring about the student council president’s presence. “Look!”

“Well, only if Taeyong isn’t such a whore,” Ten mumbled side-eyeing his friend, “we wouldn’t have been held back.”

“S-Shut up...” Taeyong whispered, closing his eyes and pinching Ten’s thigh under the table.

“Ouch!” Ten squealed. “Don’t be so violent!”

Jung Jaehyun only laughed, showing his dimpled cheeks. “Dejun, Jaemin, is it alright if I join you guys?”

In hesitance, Dejun shifted his gaze from Jung Jaehyun to his friends, not knowing what to reply. “Uh… It’s supposed to be our friendship gathering...”

“Oh, is that so?” Jung Jaehyun clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “I was actually planning on treating all four of you, but it’s alright. There’s always a next time.”

Jung Jaehyun was about to leave but was immediately stopped by a wide-eyed Dejun. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“President Jung, of course you can always come with us!” Dejun then turned to his friends, signaling for their approval. “Right, guys?”

“Yeah, sure. We don’t mind, hyung,” Jaemin mindlessly said, smiling to Jung Jaehyun.

“Wow.” Ten snickered at Jaemin’s politeness. “Hyung.”

“Na Jaemin!” came a shout from a distance, and Jaemin could already tell whose voice it was, Liu Yangyang. Not a couple seconds later, the guy came trotting in the pavilion, breathless. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Uh...” Jaemin shifted his eyes elsewhere, looking at his friends, signaling them to come up with something that would excuse him from the situation.

“We’re actually going out,” Ten interjected. “And we’re literally just about to go. If you need anything, I think it would be best to just postpone it until tomorrow.”

“No,” came Liu Yangyang’s firm protest. “I need to talk to him right now. It’s really, really important.”

“What’s so important that can’t wait until tomorrow?”

But Liu Yangyang ignored that snide remark and focused on Jaemin instead. “We need to talk.”

“Yangyang,” Jaemin started, frustration written all over his face, “if it’s about the date, can we talk about it tomorrow?”

“No.” This time, the anger in Liu Yangyang’s voice was evident that it almost scared Jaemin, considering the former has always been cool-headed person. “You’ve been dodging it for a long time. Do you think I’m dumb?”

“Are we really going to have this conversation right now?”

“Because you forced me to.”

“Forced you to?” Jaemin chuckled humorlessly. “Just for your information, I’ve been busy because of the council. You should know about that. And in the first place, I didn’t force you to do anything. You were the one who presented yourself to help me and be my representative for the whole campaign period. So, please, don’t act like I forced you into doing anything.”

In anger, Jaemin grabbed his bag and tried to storm off, heading for the school gates. However, his arm was suddenly yanked by Liu Yangyang as he was dragged outside the school premises, in a corner.

“What the fuck!” Jaemin yelled, trying to pull his arm back. “Yangyang, this isn’t funny anymore!”

“You think I’m kidding?” There was an edge in Liu Yangyang’s voice, sending shivers down his spine. It scared Jaemin, his hair all over his body standing up at the dangerously cold tone of Liu Yangyang’s voice. Nonetheless, Jaemin still tried to pull his body and his arm against the Chinese guy’s deathly grasp. “Is this because of Lee Jeno?”

“What?”

“It’s because of Lee fucking Jeno, right?!” Liu Yangyang screamed, eyes going wide, veins on neck popping, breathing becoming heavy, rendering Jaemin frozen in place, unmoving. “Are you two fucking?!”

“What are you talking—”

“Don’t you dare fucking lie to me!” Liu Yangyang screamed even louder, grabbing the attention of the other students passing by. “I fucking saw you and Lee Jeno making outside the fucking locker room! You fucking piece of shit! You just fucking used me, didn’t you?!”

From the corner of Jaemin’s eye, he could see his friends and Jung Jaehyun running toward their direction, but despite the distance, he was pretty sure they heard what Liu Yangyang said.

“C-Calm do—” Jaemin attempted to say, his voice and his body shaking in fear.

“Don’t fucking tell me what to fucking do!” Tears welled up in their eyes, Liu Yangyang because of anger and betrayal and Jaemin in fright. “All this time, I did everything for you… I blindly followed your orders, did your favors, and all that shit just to get a fucking date… That’s all I fucking ask for… And then you’re just gonna give yourself to Lee fucking Jeno, you fucking whore!”

Never did Jaemin think being called a whore would hurt this much. Sure, his friends constantly call him a bitch, a whore, possibly all the words that could demean him, but nobody has ever called him such a word with seething eyes, as if wanting to murder him in broad daylight. The worst thing? It’s the truth. He whores himself to Lee Jeno just so the latter wouldn’t snitch on him. All because of a fucking button down polo shirt he bought using the school fund.

In helplessness, fear, and pain, tears cascaded down Jaemin’s eyes continuously like an open faucet. This time, he was no longer struggling to free himself from Liu Yangyang’s hard grasp. He had his lowered in shame as the other students watched.

Jaemin felt so down, so down he couldn’t think he’d be able to stand back up. Eyes were all on him, students whispering among themselves. In that moment, he wished the ground would swallow him whole. He’d rather have that than to stand in the midst of other students in his vulnerable state. 

“Liu Yangyang!” Jung Jaehyun blared in command. “That’s enough!”

But the said guy didn’t let go. Instead, his hold on Jaemin only tightened. It was so tight it would probably leave marks on Jaemin’s arm.

“No.”

“No?” Jung Jaehyun asked in a challenging way. “What do you think you’re doing, pulling this kind of scene at school? Do you want your parents called to the director’s office for harassing a student?”

“I don’t care! We’re outside of it!”

“Get your filthy hands off of Jaemin, you fucker!” Before Jaemin could even register what was happening, he saw a figure tackled Liu Yangyang to the ground, giving out solid punches on the latter’s face.

Lee Jeno was fuming in anger, his eyes reflecting the abyss of rage. The raven-haired guy’s muscles and veins were bulging as his hands continuously collided against Liu Yangyang’s face, leaving the latter powerless. A couple of strikes later, Lee Jeno’s hands were bleeding, as well as Liu Yangyang’s mouth, but the former wasn’t stopping.

Suddenly, Lucas Wong and Mark Lee emerged in the scene, pulling Lee Jeno away from the almost unconscious Liu Yangyang.

“Let go of me!” Lee Jeno screamed, struggling to break free, while Dejun, Taeyong, and Ten stood gaping at his seemingly bizarre reaction. “That fucker needs some lessons!”

“Dude, calm down. He’s almost unconscious,” Mark Lee said, staring at the body lying on the ground.

“No!” Lee Jeno protested. “I’m going to beat him up so bad he’s going to be hospitalized for a fucking week!”

“Jeno.” It was Jung Jaehyun’s firm voice. “That’s enough.”

“No, hyung! Look what he did to Jae—”

“...J-Jeno…” Jaemin mumbled after a short while, his head still down as tears streamed down his cheeks to the ground. “...P-Please, s-stop...”

That warmed Lee Jeno’s heart. With just that, all his anger for Liu Yangyang seemed to vanish in an instant, replaced by empathy for Jaemin…/his Jaemin./ He no longer cared that the latter’s friends were there, no longer cared that his friends were there. Under everyone’s scrutinizing gaze, he walked up to Jaemin, lifted his face up, looked into his eyes, and wiped the tears away with his fingers.

“...Are you alright…?” Lee Jeno asked, his eyes mirroring the vulnerability in Jaemin’s eyes.

Nodding his head yes like a little kid, Jaemin sniffled, small whimpers sliding past his red lips.

“I’m right here, okay?” Lee Jeno wrapped his arms around Jaemin, guiding the latter’s head to his shoulder as Jaemin cried some more, wetting the raven-haired guy’s uniform. “Shhh, I’m here. I’ll take you home.”

“...No… M-My f-friends and I a-are g-going somew-where.”

“Jaemin, you should rest.” It was Taeyong who spoke. “We’ll go out next time, alright?”

With an apologetic look, Jaemin nodded.

“Bros, you guys go ahead. Tell Haechan and Renjun I won’t be able to come with you,” Lee Jeno explained to his friends as Jung Jaehyun tried to help Liu Yangyang from the ground. “Sorry, I’ll make it up to you next time.”

“No problem, bro.”

-

Throughout their ride home, Jaemin kept a safe distance from Lee Jeno. Surprisingly, the latter respected that. The raven-haired guy didn’t do anything suggestive, didn’t do anything that would make him uncomfortable, and Jaemin was thankful for that. Inside the bus, Lee Jeno let him have the vacant seat and acted like a bodyguard, protecting him from everyone else.

He still couldn’t believe Lee Jeno defended him from Liu Yangyang. Nonetheless, he was still thankful for the raven-haired guy’s effort. Not to mention, the way Lee Jeno stared in his eyes when he was crying. It looked as if the latter was concerned, as if the latter was worried. And maybe Lee Jeno did.

Because of that, there was a blossoming feeling of hope in Jaemin’s heart. There’s nothing wrong if he tries...right? 

Still, he felt bad for Liu Yangyang. He completely understands why the guy of Chinese descent finally snapped.

When they reached the closest street from the Na residence, Jaemin halted his steps, turning around to look at Lee Jeno.

“Thank you for standing for me...” he trailed off, looking at the ground. “...but you shouldn’t have involved yourself...”

“Why not?” Lee Jeno countered, putting his hands inside his pocket. “He’s saying those horrible things to you.”

“But it’s true.”

“It’s not,” came Lee Jeno’s firm but low register voice. “Whatever it is he said, it’s not true. He said those things because he was angry and couldn’t have you.”

With his heartbeat quickening, Jaemin raised his head, his eyes meeting Lee Jeno’s. He gulped nervously, not tearing his gaze away from the guy before him, the guy who’s been the subject of his daydreams.

/There’s nothing wrong if he tries...right?/

Driven by his newfound determination, Jaemin took steps toward Lee Jeno, capturing the raven-haired guy’s lips in a liplock.

Tomorrow, he will confess to Lee Jeno about his feelings and to Jung Jaehyun about what he did in order to start anew.

-

There was a heavy feeling lingering on Jaemin’s chest when he woke up on a Friday morning, his shoulders slumped down, as if the world was weighing on them. Although he cried his way to slumber the previous night, it didn’t wash away the awful feeling of Liu Yangyang’s words that seemed to etch themselves on his heart. He looked like an undead being with the bags under his eyes and tousled hair as he trudged out of bed, stretching his limbs, reaching for his phone on his study table.

He didn’t want to go to school, in all honesty. It was like every ounce of energy within his body was drained because of whole fiasco yesterday, as if it was some sort of vacuum that sucked the life out of him. Above all else, there was a looming sense of danger that Jaemin couldn’t explain. And his intuition, most of the time, is right. But it could just be because of the weather.

From the inside of his room, he could see outside through his bedroom window, gray hue of clouds surrounding the entire skyline of Seoul, creating a dull and melancholic atmosphere. It was drizzling, small droplets of water being poured down the ground as the city roared like a tiger and released streaks of lightning in the realm of heaven every now and then.

There were a lot of texts, some from his friends but mostly from Lee Jeno, asking how he was feeling. Like how things had always been, Jaemin didn’t reply. It felt like an established dynamic between him and Lee Jeno that he wouldn’t reply every time the raven-haired guy would text him. And if he does, it usually takes hours or days.

Jaemin did his morning routine before opening his closet to get his uniform, only to be reminded of Lee Jeno because of the scarf he stole from him. It’s considered stealing because he didn’t ask for the guy’s permission, right? Nonetheless, he let it sit there. That led him to his plan on confessing to Lee Jeno about his feelings and to Jung Jaehyun about the school fund.

Despite the misfortunes that came along with what Jaemin did, he’s glad that he was able to know Lee Jeno on a deeper level. His monochromatic world was dramatically painted with blue, red, yellow, and all different hues that he could imagine, all because of Lee Jeno.

Whatever happens after his confession, Jaemin would gladly accept it. There’s only two possible outcomes, either Lee Jeno feels the same thing or the latter rejects him. And he’s willing to take that risk. If ever Lee Jeno happened to only used him in order to get back at him for what he to his friends, at least Jaemin tried, right? And if there’s one thing that he realized within the span of their agreement, it’s that Lee Jeno is worth the risk. Even if he ends up looking like a complete fool, at least he’d have no regrets. He wouldn’t have to spend his days thinking of what ifs.

And whatever Jung Jaehyun does once he’s confessed, he’d be alright with it. At the end of the day, he finds himself in such a position due to his wrongdoings. Hadn’t he led Liu Yangyang on and spent the school fund for his own personal gain, all of this wouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Lately, all of the shady things he’d done from the past years up to the present day seems to finally bite him back in the ass. First, he had no choice but to enter into an agreement that would only benefit the other party. And when it finally benefits him, emotions began to get in the way, messing up both his mental and emotional state. Then, just when he’s about to reject Liu Yangyang, the latter already had enough and snapped at him.

To say that Jaemin never feels guilty of all his deeds is a complete and utter lie, he does. In fact, it always sits at the back of his head, waiting for its turn to occupy his mind as soon as he’d accomplished whatever shady things he’d done. It’s just that, Jaemin has gotten used to it after some time.

Maybe, after he’s dealt with Lee Jeno and Jung Jaehyun, he can finally apologize to Haechan and Mark Lee. In the grand scheme of things, they were the ones who took the first blow. Everything that led up to this point started with them. He never wanted to be this way in the first place, never wanted to be someone his childhood self would be afraid of.

But it’s never too late to get himself back on track.

“Mom?” he called out when he got to the living room and noticed that there wasn’t breakfast. He waited for a couple of seconds for a reply. However, he didn’t get any. He went to his parents' bedroom, looking for them, but he was only met by soft snores coming from his mother. “Mom.”

Suddenly, Mrs. Na jolted awake, looking at him with hooded eyes. “Oh, Jaemin.”

“You didn’t cook breakfast?” he asked, feeling his stomach growl.

“Sorry, I slept in. Just grab breakfast or something on your way to school,” Mrs. Na replied dismissively, burying her face on her pillows once again.

In disbelief, Jaemin grabbed his backpack and left the house with an empty stomach. The drizzle hasn’t stopped, neither did it turn to a full on rain. There were puddles that Jaemin had to jump over as he held the opened umbrella over his head, small splashes of water drenching the lower part of his pants. Just in time as he reached the bus stop, there was already a bus taking in passengers. He hopped inside the vehicle and paid using his card, sitting on one of the seats before taking out his phone. The first thing he opened was Lee Jeno’s messages, smiling wistfully at the words of concern and worry.

/Rest well, alright? If you still feel like crying, go on. It’s better to let all those feelings out than to keep them to yourself. Only if you didn’t tell me to go home, I would’ve honestly stayed at your house to take care of you./

/If you didn’t tell me to stop earlier, I would’ve beaten Liu Yangyang until his parents can no longer recognize him. He should be thankful, Lucas and Mark were there to hold me back physically. And he should be thankful that you had power over me or else, he’d never see another daylight./

/By the way, I also want to say sorry. I know you’re uncomfortable about people knowing that there’s something between us, but I couldn’t really hold myself back earlier./

/If you don’t feel like going to school tomorrow, don’t bother going to school. I’ll just visit you and tell your mom we have homework that you need to pass next week./

Is this what it feels like to be in love? He asked himself, looking outside the window as the drizzle poured nonstop, its mist blocking the view from the inside. Hesitantly, he breathed on the window, drawing a heart and admiring its beauty as a smile played on his lips.

For once, he wanted to stay positive. Surely, Lee Jeno wouldn’t have reacted like that yesterday and text him these things if the raven-haired guy doesn’t have any sort of romantic feelings for him, right?

Na Jaemin is not a religious person. He’s Christian, and it all ends there, but that didn’t stop him from praying to God, with his hands clasped together and eyes closed, that he isn’t reading things wrong, that this isn’t some sort of a twisted joke for Lee Jeno’s clique to get back at him.

While praying, however, the phone on his closed lap kept buzzing, showing notifications from his KakaoTalk account. Dejun, Ten, and Taeyong were flooding their group chat with messages after another within seconds. Curious about the commotion, he opened the chat and saw the latest message, which was from Dejun.

/Jaemin, have you seen this?/ Dejun wrote on their KakaoTalk group chat. Attached underneath the message was a link that directed him to their school forum.

When Jaemin clicked the link, his stomach flipped as he broke into cold sweats. He scanned the entire post, taking in every word written on it, his fingers shaking, not from the cold but from what he was reading. Tears in his eyes welled up, eyes flickering through the screen of his phone.

[Na Jaemin From 11-A is a Manipulative, Pathological Liar]

[My conscience have been bugging for so long—it’s time to finally break my silence. I used to be, I guess, a follower of Na Jaemin. In fact, I was in love with him. I was naive and easily fooled. With his dazzling smile and innocent face, who wouldn’t be in love? He was shy and reserved and only had Haechan Lee (who’s also from 11-A) as a friend. But even then, I was already wrapped around his fingers by his beauty. There may be a few exceptions, but I feel like most of us, at some point, fell in love with him, even if it’s just for a brief moment. Unfortunately for me, those are the things that became Na Jaemin’s avenue to make me do awful things.]

[I’m no longer going to dive into the small shady things he made me do right after this instance, but the one thing that I was deeply regretful of is when he used me to spread a bunch of lies about Haechan Lee. If you guys remember, there was a scandal involving Haechan Lee, Mark Lee (another person from 11-A), and Na Jaemin. Haechan Lee and Na Jaemin used to be best of friends. Even when both of them weren’t known, they were really attached to the hip, cue Mark Lee’s appearance. The two of them had a massive crush to Mark Lee. At first, it was a healthy one, and they’d often ogle at him for fun, but then Mark Lee and Haechan Lee became a thing, and Na Jaemin went batshit crazy.]

[He came to me, crying his eyes out, wanting to take revenge. And like the foolish guy that I was, I did what he told me to do. I created multiple accounts here and posted a lot of defamatory stuff about Haechan Lee regarding getting on with Mark Lee when he knew exactly that Na Jaemin harbored feelings for the guy. I also posted a bunch of defamatory stuff about him among many other things I did I wouldn’t mention in this. The catch? Na Jaemin would go out with me, but he never did. Na Jaemin used me and my lack of better judgment in order to further his own agenda. Now, he whores himself out to Lee Jeno. I saw them kissing yesterday.]

[The sad thing is that nobody notices that he manipulates those people around him, and when someone does, they usually shrug it off because they don’t wanna cross him. (See: Earlier Paragraphs) Not only that, he is also a compulsive liar who lies his way through everything. Behind his smile lies a monster who would walk over anyone for his own gain. So, if you’re still friends with him, I suggest you stay away as early as possible before you see your life be in shambles right before your eyes.]

It was a post from a user with no icon and no details. It garnered a hundred of reactions and comments, and it had only been posted for half an hour. And it didn’t take long enough for his vision to go completely blurry as tears cascaded down on the surface of his phone, more so when he read the comments.

[+78, -15] Honestly, I’m not surprised anymore. I’m friends with one of his fanboys, and when we were in 9th grade (we’re in 10th grade now), Na Jaemin would always guilt trip my friend into doing something my friend is uncomfortable of. At first, my friend kept turning a blind eye on everything. I’m glad he saw through his bullshit before Na Jaemin was able to do something like this to my friend. Utterly disgusting.

[+62, -13] I knew something smells fishy about him. Like, his smile just seems disingenuous. Glad that he’s finally exposed and that Haechan Lee’s name is finally cleared. BUT, I’m still kinda indifferent because OP had to include Lee Jeno, when in fact, Lee Jeno and Na Jaemin are not in good terms.

[+34, -43] I can’t believe this. You’re really going to judge Na Jaemin based on this post? There isn’t even any evidence! What if the person behind this post is just jealous of him, have you guys ever thought of that? 

[+25, -7] “Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.” — Phaedrus

[+38, -4] Some of y’all failed Media Information Literacy and it shows.

[+13, -2] Someone finally spoke up! I’ve been telling my friends how something’s off with him. I mean, just from the way he smiles to the way he talks, it’s pretty obvious. It’s just a lot of you are naive. Poor Lee Jeno, he got dragged into such a mess!

[+7, -1] I think it’d be a great idea if the people who were wronged by Na Jaemin begin to speak out one by one, at least on this platform. School sweetheart? School sweetheart my ass. Y’all even had the audacity to elect him as the council’s secretary.

[+42, -8] Na Jaemin is very manipulative. I’m so glad people are finally opening their eyes. They need to see the real him, and now is the right time. Whoever you are, thank you for speaking up.

[+21, -3] Poor Haechan Lee. So, they were best friends, huh? Imagine being tossed like that by your best friend. No wonder why Mark Lee never liked Na Jaemin. He saw through him, LOL.

By this time, Jaemin already had one hand on his mouth, trying to block out the sobs that were threatening to come out of his mouth while tears continuously descended down his cheeks. And having an empty stomach wasn’t helping either. When the bus came to his designated stop, Jaemin climbed out, hugging himself. He attempted to walk with an umbrella over his head, but his knees betrayed him, causing him to fall down on the ground knees first. He lost the grasped on the umbrella, and it also fell on the pavement, resulting in him getting drenched.

The post came out of nowhere, like a magician’s trick suddenly materializing from thin air. Finding it hard to breathe, Jaemin tried to stand up, although he probably got some scratches on his knees from the fall. They were hurting, but since the school wasn’t too far, he trudged his way with everything he could.

When he arrived at their homeroom, droplets of water dripping down from his hair, fingers, chin, and uniform, Dejun was standing before the teacher’s table, both hands on the table, eyes watching their classmates like how predators would watch they prey. The latter was obviously fuming, eyes seething.

“I’m going to fucking repeat myself,” Dejun calmly said but in a dangerous manner, taking a deep breath, “who among you posted it and commented on it, huh?”

However, Dejun was only answered by the drizzle outside. Jaemin looked at the rest of the class, still unnoticed. There was no denying who posted it. He knew exactly who the unknown user was.

“Dejun...” he mumbled, eyes flickering to his friend as he walked closer to him. This time, everyone’s gaze landed on him, whispering among themselves. “...Stop… Don’t...”

“No, Jaemin,” Dejun firmly stated, his eyes back on their classmates once again. “I wouldn’t tolerate this kind of libelous assumptions!”

“Just let it be...”

“No!” Dejun almost screamed, fuming. “If nobody’s going to admit to anything, I will make sure that whoever posted it and commented on it would pay.”

“...Wasn’t Na Jaemin dragged by Liu Yangyang just yesterday because he apparently led the guy on…?” a female classmate, Hwang Yeji, interjected, arms across her chest as she stared back at Dejun in a challenging manner. “I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the accusations about him were true.”

Stunned, Jaemin felt his heart sank at the words, diving deeper and deeper into the abyss, knowing that the accusations were indeed true. He knew he shouldn’t wallow in self pity, considering everything is his own doing, but the impact of it being said to his face was a lot powerful that he’d anticipated.

He searched for Liu Yangyang among the crowd, but he couldn’t find the figure of the latter. Lee Jeno wasn’t around, too.

“Well, nobody asked for your opinion, Yeji,” Dejun snapped. “Just because Lee Hangyul led you on before, doesn’t mean that Jaemin would do the same thing to Yangyang. You’re barking at the wrong tree.”

“Hey!” Lee Hangyul suddenly called. “Stop dragging me into it, damn. Don’t worry though, Jaemin, I don’t believe what they’re saying.”

“...But it’s the tr—”

“You really shouldn’t believe it!”

Wide-eyed and mouth agape, Jaemin stared at the source of the voice in disbelief. Across the room, his former best friend he hasn’t talked to for about two years, rose in his seat, head down, eyes set ablaze.

“Jaemin didn’t do it,” Haechan Lee clarified. “I can attest to that.”

If there was anything Jaemin wasn’t expecting to happen, it was Haechan, whom he’d tormented for years with the lies and rumors he spread throughout the years, standing up for him in front of everyone about accusations that are never far from the truth. He lowered his head and looked at the ground, his eyes getting blurry as another wave of tears streamed down.

“Yes, we had a huge fight over my boyfriend, Mark, because the two of us used to have a crush on him,” Haechan started again. “And at some point in our friendship, Jaemin and I started to become distant when Mark and I began dating. Eventually, we stopped talking to each other and became friends with other people, but I trust Jaemin. We were like brothers, and I refused to believe that he’d be able to do such a thing. He wouldn’t do that to me, right, Jaemin?”

The speech was then followed by utter silence from everyone else, while the question lingered in the damp air. Jaemin looked up with pool of tears in his eyes, his contorted to that of guilt and self-reproach as he stared back at Haechan’s determined eyes. When the latter finally picked up what he wanted to say with just one look, Haechan’s eyes softened, as if searching for answers.

“Why can’t you answer him, Jaemin?” a voice resounded from the door that made Jaemin’s hair all over his body stand, sending shivers down his spine. “Is it because what the user on the school forum posted, perhaps, the truth?”

“...Yangyang…” Jaemin breathed, eyes faltering as he stared at the guy with a black eye and bruise on the corner of his mouth, taking small steps toward him.

“Come on,” Liu Yangyang taunted. “Tell him the truth. He deserves to know it, you know?”

Hesitantly, Jaemin turned his head and saw the conflicted expression of his former best friend, and it added to the pressure he was currently feeling.

“Yangyang,” another voice intervened, a voice that Jaemin knew all too well, the reason of his and Haechan’s friendship break up, “stop fucking around.”

“What,” Liu Yangyang replied in a challenging manner, “you’re defending the guy who basically casted out your boyfriend and the reason why the two of you are having a rough stay in this school?”

“It’s none of your fucking business,” Mark retorted, clenching his jaw. “Or are the bruises on your face still not enough?”

“Why, of course, it’s my business.” Yangyang grinned from ear to ear, seemingly out of his mind. “After all, as Jaemin here knows by now, I’m the one behind that post.”

“...Stop, Yangyang...” Jaemin mumbled through the tears.

“Stop?” Yangyang responded, worried in pretense. “Too bad, it’s already too late for that. Before I came here, I uncovered another secret of yours.”

As soon as those words escaped past Liu Yangyang’s lips, the class brought out their phones, looking for another specific post. Even Jaemin, despite the blur of his vision, fished out his phone and looked for it. Once it appeared on the screen, his heart dropped.

[Jealousy, Na Jaemin, and School Fund]

[If you’re still unaware why Na Jaemin ran for a seat in the council, it’s solely in order to rile up Huang Renjun. Yes, you read it right. He wanted to see Huang Renjun cry from losing. Now, all of you might be wondering, why did Na Jaemin want to see Huang Renjun cry? Simple, and it came from his own mouth. It’s because he gets annoyed by Huang Renjun. For those who don’t know who Huang Renjun is, he’s from 11-A and very vocal about wanting to be a part of the council. He’s very passionate about it, and he even said that he’ll be a politician in the future. Huang Renjun is also very close to Lee Jeno. Now, going back to my previous post, it could be the reason why Na Jaemin wanted to see Huang Renjun defeated was because of jealousy.]

[Knowing Na Jaemin, there was an inkling feeling inside me that knows he’s bound to do something shady, and he did. I am a friend of someone from the council, but I wouldn’t disclose his name. Remember this school year’s school festival? Apparently, Na Jaemin was tasked by the council president to buy a brand new speaker, all because he’s neglectful of his duties so he was the one tasked to do it. So, he did. Now, can you guess what happens next? No? Well, he did buy a new speaker from an audio shop. After further, however, it turns out that the speaker he bought was a secondhand one and Na Jaemin got it for half of its original price. I downloaded a picture of Na Jaemin and showed it to the owner of the audio shop, asking if he happened to buy a speaker there. The owner said yes and mentioned that Na Jaemin only bought a secondhand speaker from him. How did I know which audio shop Na Jaemin went? Simple. My friend knows that I liked Na Jaemin. So, I asked him if there was anything Na Jaemin has done for the council. He mentioned the speaker, and I asked him for the receipt. Yes, it’s a fabricated one, but since Na Jaemin wanted to make it seem believable, he included the shop and its address.]

[I have no idea what he did to the money he got. I don’t know how he was able to do it despite the expenditures being ‘properly audited’ by Auditor Xiao Dejun and the school account bank statement being ‘properly monitored’ by President Jung Jaehyun, but this needs to be brought to the student body’s concern.]

[+97, -4] What the fuck? I usually don’t care about school gossip, but this one needs to be investigated, ASAP. I could care less about Na Jaemin being petty to his friend, but if it’s about stealing the school fund, that’s entirely a different story. If the claim about him stealing the fund is true, he needs to be properly sanctioned. If this post is just to defame him, the school needs to find the person behind this to get a proper sanction.

[+59, -2] Yes, this really needs to be investigated. I can no longer trust the student council because of this, even if it’s still just a rumor. There are corrupt officials in the government because schools became a breeding ground for corruption.

[+69, -12] Imagine, in every event, they only give us a small capital, yet they literally take half of our revenue and for what? For the money to go straight to their pockets!

[+21, -45] Y’all are literally quick to judge Jaemin!!! It’s not even proven yet!!! Have all of you crusty ass bitches heard of innocent until proven guilty???

[+33, -7] Okay, but is no one going to sympathize with Huang Renjun? The guy literally just wanted to be in the council and serve the student body but got caught in a mess. I wonder how he feels about this whole thing. He seems like a pretty nice guy.

[+ 28, -10] I’m just waiting for another post, LOL. I really love this drama. Keep the posts coming!!!

[+17, -3] I swear to God, if the student council insists on a lower budget for clubs next year, I’m suing.

Seeing the entire post and the comments on it, Jaemin could no longer hold the sob that he’d been holding. It escape past his lips, the sound resounding inside their homeroom, stabbing everyone’s heart, even Liu Yangyang’s. For a moment, the latter was taken aback but quickly composed himself.

Jaemin felt Dejun come to his side, rubbing his back while glaring at Liu Yangyang as if he wanted to murder him.

“You, asshole!” Mark Lee and Lucas Wong launched themselves to Yangyang’s direction. Fortunately for the latter, Lee Hangyul and a couple of male students were quick to get a hold of the two. “Just you wait until Jeno comes back! You will get your incel ass beaten up once again!”

“O-Oh, yeah?” Liu Yangyang taunted despite the obvious edge in his voice. “B-Because I saw Huang Renjun and Lee Jeno kissing just earlier!”

It felt as though the world had muted itself at that moment as it played a loop of Liu Yangyang’s words in his mind directed to his heart. And suddenly, the heat of the passionate moments he and Lee Jeno shared almost instantly, its warmth that kept Jaemin from the could disintegrating like an apparition. 

“You’re lying, take that back!” Lucas screamed, trying to free himself from the grasp of his classmates. “Jeno and Renjun are both in a meeting with homeroom teachers and other class reps!”

As if on cue, a very alarmed Kim Dongyoung emerged at the door. “Jaemin, Dejun, emergency meeting with the director. There’s a post going around in our school forum about the school funds being stolen, and it has reached the director. We need to be in the conference room as soon as possible.”

All the hair in Jaemin’s body stood. It felt as though his feet were stuck on the floor, leaving him immobile. There was a drastic change in the pattern of his heartbeat, and it seemed to get louder with each passing second. Slowly, he nodded before turning to look at the rest of class. He then walked toward Kim Dongyoung with Dejun in tow.

Some of their classmates followed them, whispering among one another. There were also students from other classes who’d followed them, but Jaemin’s mind was too occupied by the possible outcome of what was about to go down.

And in spite of all the noise from his classmates, schoolmates, and the rain outside, he heard a familiar voice.

“I love you so much, Jen.”

“Yeah, yeah. I love you, too.”

The funny thing with being in love is once you’ve fallen deeply, you get to memorize everything about that person, like the way they laugh, what makes them smile, or why they do a certain mannerism. Sometimes, out of millions of people, you can immediately spot them with your eyes blindfolded just by the sound of their voice.

Jaemin halted from his tracks. Dejun, Kim Dongyoung, and the rest of the people looked at him weirdly. Frightened yet curious, he slowly turned his head in the right direction, his blurry vision coming to focus. There, standing in the hallway was Lee Jeno, his back facing Jaemin. The raven-haired guy, however, wasn’t the only one there. Huang Renjun, with the brightest smile on his face, eyes closed, was hugging Lee Jeno.

With bits and pieces of his heart stomped on the ground, Jaemin stood like a clothless man in the middle of the winter. He could scream in rage flavored with venom and aim for the wounds that he couldn’t see, but perhaps this was a way of payment for the unforgivable deeds. A hand landed on both of his shoulders, lifting up his burdens. He expected to see people, but they were his soul and spirit empathizing with him, whispering sweet nothings to his ears.

Needless to say, Jaemin didn’t stop the rise of bile in his throat. It was his own powerless soul that made it possible. He looked down just to find an arrow through his chest, and Jaemin could swear it was Cupid’s own doing with the Fates as the mastermind.

After all the things that came to being in his life, however, never has Jaemin ever wished to realign the stars in the universe, in hopes of a little change in the weather would make fate be in his favor. But he can’t. So, Jaemin finally accepted defeat, who welcomed him with open arms.

-

“I’m only going to ask this once and for all. I don’t want to repeat myself again for the second time,” the school director, Cho Kyuhyun, started, taking a deep breath, “is the rumor going around on our school forum true?”

Lowered head, bloodshot eyes, and shaking fingers, Jaemin sat in his seat, gulping. They, the entire student council, were inside the conference room, feeling small under the gaze of the school director whose voice boomed the room. Outside were a bunch of students eavesdropping to the meeting, wanting to get a piece of information they could acquire. Normally, the Mr. Cho wouldn’t have any of it, but since this was a huge scandal, Jaemin guessed the school director was focused on the topic.

In the center, Mr. Cho was seated, waiting for an answer. On his right in chronological order sat the council vice president, Lee Taeyong, the council treasurer, Na Jaemin, and one of the two council sergeants-at-arms, Qian Kun. On the left were the council secretary, Kim Dongyoung, the council auditor, Xiao Dejun, and the other one of the two sergeants-at-arms. At the end of the conference table, opposite to the school director, sat the council president, Jung Jaehyun.

“Director Cho,” Jung Jaehyun called, distress apparent in his voice. “Everything was properly audited. There’s no way that the rumor is tr—”

“Confess to what you did while you still have time, or else everyone in the council will suffer,” Director Cho stated, but Jaemin knew that the words were directed to him.

Humiliated and degraded, another wave of tears re-emerge in Jaemin’s eyes. It had been hours since he began crying, yet it seems like the tears wouldn’t stop anytime soon. He could feel eyes on him, scrutinizing every fiber of his being. With the only remaining pride he had in his body, he slowly raised his head, meeting the director’s gaze.

“D-Director Cho—” a sob escaped Jaemin’s lips, followed by a series of hiccups. “I-It’s t-true.”

Everyone gaped at his confession, especially Taeyong, Dejun, and Jung Jaehyun. He then lowered his head again, putting the palm of his hand before his mouth to block out his pathetic sob. For a solid several seconds, the only thing that could be heard was Jaemin’s cries echoing throughout the walls.

“...Jaemin…” Taeyong called. It was tender, it was soft, as if the latter was trying not to break him.

“I-I’m so-sorry!” There was another series of hiccups as tears continuously streamed down his cheeks. “I-I h-have n-no e-excuse!”

“Is the rumor about the student whose name is Haechan Lee tue as well?”

“Y-Yes...” Jaemin admitted, wiping the tears with the back of his hand. “I-I don’t e-expect anyone t-to believe me, b-but I’ve been contemplating a-about all the t-things that I’ve d-done. A-And I actually w-wanted to—”

“I knew about it.”

Suddenly, everyone whipped their heads in the direction of the source of the voice.

“What...?” Taeyong asked in disbelief.

“I knew about it,” Jung Jaehyun repeated, his gaze meeting Jaemin’s questioning ones. “Yes, the post on the school forum, to an extent, is true. Jaemin took the money, but he has every inch of intention to give it back.”

“...H-Hyung...” Jaemin weakly mumbled with the desire to stop what was Jung Jaehyun thinking, but he only received a knowing look.

“On the fabricated receipt, it states that the speaker was ₩520,000.00. Before Jaemin bought the speaker, he went around to canvass and saw the speaker in the audio shop. He called to let me know about the price, and since it was too pricey, I told him to look for a brand new speaker with a lower price point.” Jung Jaehyun looked at Taeyong and smiled, as if to say, trust me on this. “But when Jaemin told me the model of the speaker, I let him buy it. Some of you might not know, but my uncle used to have lights and sound equipment, so he knows a lot about it. I asked him if we should get that specific speaker despite it being a secondhand and he said yes.”

“Where is this going exactly?”

“But before Jaemin bought it ₩260,000.00, he asked me if he could borrow money from me to buy something for his birthday in advance. I had no money at the time, so I told him to withdraw the same amount of the original price of the speaker and take the excess. That’s why in the bank statement, it appeared that we withdrew ₩520,000.00. We needed to make another receipt. Truth to it, Jaemin has tried to deposit the money a couple of times, but I was really planning on depositing the money Jaemin borrowed because I wanted it to be my way of present to him. Unfortunately, I was only able to get my full allowance today. If there is anyone to blame, it’s me. I wasn’t able to do my job properly.”

“Nonetheless,” the school director started, “you shouldn’t have touched the school fund for personal use.”

“I know,” Jung Jaehyun replied, hanging his head low. “And for that, I’m really, really sorry, Director Cho. I was very well aware of the implications, but I chose to ignore it because I wanted Jaemin to get something for his birthday.”

“It’s just really such a shame,” Director Cho mumbled, shaking his head in disbelief. “Na Jaemin, you have such a good record. A lot of students in the lower years are fond of you and look up to you. To be in this kind of scandal would taint permanently what they think about you.”

“S-Sorry, Director Cho...” Jaemin stood up and repeatedly bowed his head in a rapid manner.

“Alright, alright. Stop crying,” Director Cho said. “But since you’ve admitted that you had shortcomings, you will still be properly sanctioned. You, Na Jaemin and Jung Jaehyun, would have to be forced to resign from your posts and you would be suspended for the whole week next week.”

The place was wrapped with silence, and Jaemin turned his head to look at Jung Jaehyun whose eyes wavered for a moment but forced a smile on his lips, nevertheless. When their eyes met, Jung Jaehyun flashed him a genuine one.

“But Directorr Cho, I can’t—”

“Taeyong,” Jung Jaehyun called, love evident in his voice, “I trust you.”

“Alright,” Director Cho stated in finality. “Since you’ve admitted to it, we’ll release a statement on the school forum. I will also have people investigate the person behind the defamatory post. Meeting adjourned.”

One by one, the officers started leaving as soon as Director Cho had left the conference room. Still, Jaemin remained seated, wallowing in self-pity and self-reproach. He then felt a hand caressing his hair.

“Come on.” It was Jung Jaehyun. “Stop crying already. If you keep doing that, you’ll turn ugly.”

“You stupid punk!” Now, that was Taeyong, hitting Jung Jaehyun in the arm. “Why do you always act impulsively?! We need you in the council! Do you think I can do this?! You’re such a pain in the ass!”

“Jaem,” Dejun called, taking the empty seat next to him. “Next time, if you really want something but don’t have money to buy it, just tell me, or Taeyong-hyung, or Ten-hyung. We’d let you borrow money. Hell, we’d even buy it for you. Just don’t do something like that again, okay?”

Nodding weakly, Jaemin was assisted outside by his friends and Jung Jaehyun. The crowd of students near the door of the conference room had dispersed, making it easier for the rest of them to leave the room. Not only a couple of steps from where they’d been, however, they were stopped by Lee Jeno.

“Jaemin,” the raven-haired guy called, catching his breath like he’d just ran a marathon. “I-I’ve read the post.”

Jaemin turned to his friends. “Is it alright if you left us alone?”

The three nodded despite being unsure. Once Taeyong, Dejun, and Jung Jaehyun had left the scene, Jaemin turned to the love of his life. And as he met his eyes, the very memory of him hearing Huang Renjun and Lee Jeno saying ‘I love you’ to each other resounded inside his head, while the memory of them hugging one another as if their lives depended on it flashed right before his eyes.

“Jaemin.” Jeno tried once again, but he was only met with silence. “I was so worried about you.”

“It’s over, Jeno,” Jaemin mumbled against the wind. “Let’s stop seeing each other.”

-

It was more than a week later when Jaemin found himself sitting at a table in a fairly secluded cafe just a couple of blocks away from his house. As expected, there weren’t too many people around, and the number of them could literally be counted using one hand. There was a cup of hot espresso sitting on the table, its steam dancing in a swaying manner as Jaemin lowered his head, fidgeting with his fingers nervously, waiting for someone he hasn’t talked to in years to arrive.

The one week suspension served as a blessing in disguise, considering he was able to pull himself together and gather his thoughts. Coincidentally, due to having an empty stomach and being drenched in the rain last week, he was rendered sick during the weekdays.

There were a lot of messages on his phone, some from his friends but mainly from the person he wants to forget. He never bothered to open them, wanting to focus on his well-being and thinking about fixing everything.

Outside, snow started pouring down, giving a sense of calmness and serenity. Jaemin’s eyes fluttered, watching the passersby went on their respective ways, while cars carefully hit the slippery road of Seoul. Even inside the establishment, he could feel the coldness of the snowflakes swaying around the damp air, making their way down the pavement. Because of that, Lee Jeno’s figure flashed before his eyes like a ghost of the past haunting him. He misses the warmth of the raven-haired guy, but he knows he shouldn’t do anything that would potentially put him in a bad spot again.

After all, the reason why he was sitting there on a cold Saturday morning inside the cafe, about to swallow his pride, is because of redemption. He wants a clean slate, a new beginning. And sleeping with someone who already has a boyfriend is not exactly the right way to do it. He doesn’t even know if Lee Jeno and Huang Renjun were already together when he started sleeping with Lee Jeno. Just the thought of it makes Jaemin so regretful, but what could he have done when he was left with no choice but to comply to the raven-haired guy’s demands?

“Hey...” a soft familiar voice called, interrupting Jaemin’s thoughts and earning his attention. Slowly, he looked up and met gazes with his childhood best friend. “How long have you been here?”

“Fifteen minutes,” he answered almost immediately in a frantic manner, avoiding the other’s eyes. “I-It’s okay, though. I-I was the one who wanted to meet up...”

“Alright,” Haechan said, taking the seat across Jaemin, hiding the small smile that threatening to come out by pressing his lips together. “...So… How are you?”

Jaemin blinked a few times. “I- I’m getting better, I think…?”

“That’s good to hear, Jaem.”

And those words seemed to have transformed themselves into an oncoming bus, while Jaemin’s heart served as a deer caught in the headlights. It was a simple statement, a simple gesture, yet it managed to spark something within him that died years ago. 

“What about you…?” Jaemin asked, his nerves affecting the way he verbalized.

“I’m alright, but to be honest, getting involved in a drama that resurfaced again after years is kinda exhausting.” Haechan heaved a deep breath. “But it’s okay. At least things got cleared up.”

Silence lingered in the atmosphere as the snow outside cascaded down. Jaemin’s eyes wavered, his breath hitching as the words sank in. He scrunched his eyebrows, trying to stop the incoming tears. He told himself a million times before coming there that he wouldn’t cry. He didn’t want to look like he wanted sympathy or anything along those lines.

“...I’m sorry — ” he breathed out after several seconds, blocking his mouth with his palm as his voice cracked at the end, tears streaming down his cheeks. “...I’m sorry...”

“Oh my God,” Haechan exclaimed, alarmed. In haste, he rose from his seat and went to Jaemin, taking the spot next to the latter. “You misunderstood. Yes, I was upset when I found out about it, but I get why you did it...”

“I-I don’t d-deserve this,” Jaemin said through the hiccups and tears. “I-I don’t d-deserve to be c-coddled by p-people whom I-I’ve done wrong...”

Haechan pursed his lips, wrapping an arm around Jaemin. “Hey, let me talk first, okay?”

Jaemin just nodded in response, pulling his handkerchief from his pocket and wiping his tears and snot with it.

“At first, I was really, really hurt. I mean, we were both young, we were both vulnerable to our emotions. I knew how much you liked Mark then...but I still chose to talk to him in secrecy.”

“B-But you liked him first...”

“Well, yeah, but I should’ve taken into account your feelings as well. Listen, I’m not excusing you for what you did. What you did was wrong, and I’m happy that you’re strong enough to admit it now. It’s always never too late to get back on the right track, even the people in their last breath do it. Regretting what you did in the past means you’re growing.”

“...Still… I’m so sorry...” Jaemin mumbled through his hiccups, coughing lightly. “I was so angry and betrayed…and because of it, I threw our friendship away...”

“You’re forgiven, but you have to promise me that /if/ we ever get into a fight again, we’ll talk it out, okay?” Haechan asked, his grasped on Jaemin’s shoulder tightening comfortingly. “Or else you crying for forgiveness wouldn’t work for me anymore. I’ll fight back.”

That earned a small laugh from Jaemin despite his bloodshot eyes and red cheeks. “I p-promise.”

“I’m actually beyond surprised when you texted me. I thought you’ve deleted my number years ago.”

“I haven’t. I didn’t have the heart to do it.”

“You know, my parents always ask me why you never come over anymore. I had to lie to them about how we just kinda drifted apart and met new people. They’ve missed you so much. They’re going to be thrilled when you come over to our place and we hang out.”

“Thank you so much, Haechan,” Jaemin said, eyes glistening as he turned to look at his childhood best friend straight in the eyes. “Thank you for being a good friend, even if I don’t deserve it at all.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Haechan replied, trying to hide the shy smile that was threatening to play on his lips as he waved his hand dismissively. “Just stop crying. People are looking at us. They might think I’m bullying you.”

Wiping his tear-stained face his handkerchief, Jaemin nodded, plastering a genuine smile on his lips, the one that reached his eyes and made their corners crease. “Okay… I also promise that I’ll make it up to you.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Haechan responded. “You know, Mark will be happy once he finds out we’re on good terms now. I actually tried to break up with him when you got angry. If he hadn’t talked me out of the idea, we probably would have not been still together.”

“...Sorry...”

“Can you stop saying sorry? You’re making me feel bad,” Haechan teasingly said. “But the good thing now is that we no longer like the same person. I have Mark, you have Jeno.”

Upon the mention of the raven-haired guy’s name, Jaemin froze from his spot. All the sounds he was emitting abruptly halted as he lowered his head once again, unable to look at his childhood best friend in the eye. There was a strong tug on his heartstrings, as if the words were trying to detach them. With a hitch of a breath, Jaemin gulped nervously.

“W-Whatever we had, I… I already put an end to it...” Jaemin muttered. “Before all these, did Jeno tell you about us…?”

“Oh… Too bad, I was really rooting for the two of you,” Haechan breathed. “He didn’t… I only had an idea when Mark and Lucas told me about how Jeno beat Yangyang up. And then when I found out about it when he confessed to us that you were kinda having a secret relationship?”

“W-What…?” Jaemin looked at Haechan, blinking in confusion. “Secret relationship?”

“Yeah, he said the reason he didn’t want us to know is because you think we hate you, which is not the truth by the way. Lucas and Mark aren’t fond of the things you do...and Renjun and I are more saddened than mad...”

“...He didn’t say anything else…?”

“No, why?”

“W-We weren’t in a relationship… Plus, isn’t he and Huang Renjun dating…?”

“Wait, why would you think that?” Haechan asked, wide-eyed. “You really believed Yangyang when he said he saw Renjun and Jeno kissing?”

“Weren’t they…?”

“They weren’t, and I’m a hundred percent sure they aren’t together. Oh God, is this the reason why you stopped seeing him?”

Hesitantly, Jaemin nodded his head in confirmation, fisting his hands. He closed his eyes in shame, knowing that he made another mistake, and that’s concluding without even trying to hear out the other party. “But they exchanged /I love yous./ What am I supposed to think…?”

“Hey,” a familiar voice interrupted.

When Jaemin turned his head in the direction of the voice, he was slightly surprised, feeling a little embarrassed. Mark was standing there, hands inside his trench coat. The latter took off his coat and sat across them, giving them a small smile.

“I told you to not come, didn’t I?” Haechan said in exasperation, to which Mark responded with a wink.

“Then, you shouldn’t have told me where you guys would meet.”

“You’re so annoying.”

“What,” Mark started, “I want to see Jaemin as well.”

“H-Huh…?” Jaemin’s voice wavered, looking at Mark questioningly.

“I overheard your conversation. Renjun and Jeno aren’t dating, just letting you know that. I mean, Lucas and Renjun had just gotten together because of me and Jeno. There’s no way Jeno would do Lucas a favor like that if he likes Renjun,” Mark explained, calling for a waiter. “And if you plan on apologizing, it’s all good. If Haechan my love here accepts you, then I accept you, too.”

“Oh my God, shut up.”

The snow outside hadn’t stopped the downpour. If anything, it only seemed to have heavily poured. Just by looking at it brought shivers down Jaemin his spine. As his eyes roamed the entire scene, the once hot cup of espresso sitting on their table had already turned cold, untouched. 

“Iced coffee on a cold weather, honestly?” Jaemin heard Haechan say.

“Well, I can’t really carry a hot cup of coffee on the way out, can I?” Mark responded, while holding his phone on one hand. The latter then grabbed Haechan’s hand. “Actually, Jaemin, I didn’t come here alone. There’s someone waiting for you outside… So, we’ll be on our way, alright?”

Before Jaemin could even reply, Mark was already tugging Haechan on the way out. And as if it was a scene from one of those romantic films, Lee Jeno emerged from the outside in slow motion, wearing a grey trench coat and scarf, covered in bits of snow. There was a small skeptic smile playing on the raven-haired guy’s lips, and Jaemin didn’t realize how much he’d miss the guy until that moment.

For some reason, unlike Lee Jeno’s intimidating and unapproachable vibe, the latter looked cozy, radiating a sense of warmth...as if the raven-haired guy was home. It felt like all the lights went out with only a single spotlight shining over Lee Jeno, and Jaemin could feel his heartbeat quickening with each step the guy took.

When Lee Jeno was already near the table, the latter removed his coat and sat opposite Jaemin, skeptical about meeting the latter’s gaze. They stayed silent for a minute, not knowing where to begin. Luckily, the tension was lifted for a moment when a waiter walked up to them to take the raven-haired guy’s order.

“I’ll take a shot of espresso,” Lee Jeno said, noticing the cold cup of espresso sitting in front of Jaemin. “Thank you.”

Jaemin had his head lowered, contemplating if he should say anything or let Lee Jeno start the conversation.

“Hi,“ Lee Jeno started off, tapping his fingers on the table, anxiety evident in the way he spoke and moved.

“...Hello...” Jaemin replied in hesitation, still not looking at the guy across from him.

“I’m sorry if I came unannounced. I just… You weren’t responding to all my messages, and I was really worried when I found out what happened last week. I was in an emergency meeting with the other class monitors, class reps, and homeroom teachers...”

“Jeno—”

“Have you talked to Jaehyun-hyung?”

“...I have...” Jaemin nodded solemnly, his gaze fixated on the cup of coffee in front of him. “I explained everything to him about the school fund I used...but I left out the part about our agreement.”

Lee Jeno nodded in understanding despite not being seen. “I’ve been talking to Dejun and Taeyong-hyung to ask how you are, but it turns out you didn’t contact them the past week.”

Not knowing what to reply to that, Jaemin stayed silent and turned his head over his shoulder and looked at the snow-covered road outside, trying to calm his heart down. The waiter went back to their table, carrying Lee Jeno’s order. As soon as the waiter left, Lee Jeno carefully switched their cups.

“Have mine, and I’ll have yours,” Lee Jeno said, following Jaemin’s line of sight. “It’s the first snowfall of winter… You should drink that coffee before it gets cold like this one.”

It was a simple persuasion, and if it were any other situation they were in, Jaemin would have probably missed the longing in the way Lee Jeno spoke or in the way the raven-haired guy looked at him with those sparkling pair of obsidian eyes.

“W-Why are you here…?” he trailed off, although he knew all too well why Lee Jeno was there.

“If it’s alright, can we talk somewhere else with just the two of us?” Lee Jeno asked with faltering eyes. “I know you said we should stop seeing each other… So, if this would be the last time, I want to be honest to you and to myself.”

And even if Jaemin was full of doubt, he nodded in response and proceeded to drink his cup of coffee. Several minutes passed with neither of them speaking until they both finished their respective shots of espresso. Jaemin was the first one to rise from his seat to grab his own coat and Lee Jeno’s scarf that he took during one of their escapades. Lee Jeno noticed it but decided not to say anything.

What greeted them outside was the dry and cold wind of Seoul as snow fell on their heads and shoulders. They walked on the sidewalk slowly, trying to match their steps, not caring about the coldness of the weather. After all, they were each other’s source of heat. Just by being beside each other gave them warmth, and that was enough to block the cold. They let their feet take them wherever, and they ended up in a park with a few kids playing at the playground.

“I… I want to say sorry, first of all.” Lee Jeno took a deep breath. “I know a simple apology wouldn’t suffice, but I still want to say it, just in case you don’t know.”

Jaemin just lowered his head, looking at the traces of their footprints on the ground, while Jeno looked up at the sky, his eyes shimmering as they reflected the heavens above.

“I’ve always found you cute, you know?” Lee Jeno let out a small laugh. “When we were introduced to each other by Haechan, you looked so delicate and fragile. It almost made me want to protect you. But because I was a shy kid, I never had the courage to properly approach you.”

With a hitch of breath, Jaemin tried to contain himself.

“Then, that thing with Mark happened, and suddenly, you and Haechan had a fallout. And when I saw you convince Yangyang to spread rumors about Haechan, I got angry and thought you were bad news. Since then, every time I see you, I was confused about what to feel. I liked you, but you did that to one of my close friends. I never told my friends it was you who did it.”

“...Why didn’t you…?” Jaemin breathed out with an involuntary bob of his adam’s apple.

“Honestly, I don’t know either. I know I should have. I mean, I could have but I didn’t,” Lee Jeno replied. “As we grew old, I noticed the physical changes in you, and it drew me in. This will sound really messed up, but you became sort of like my sexual fantasy?”

Cheeks set ablaze, Jaemin also felt his whole body burning amidst the complete contrast of the weather. He was pretty sure that if snow landed against his skin, it would instantly melt due to what Lee Jeno said.

“And then you tried to pull that thing with me in Math class. It heightened my desire for you, and I desperately looked for something that would lure you in me. Coincidentally, Jaehyun-hyung just had me follow you. So, I did what I did.I know it’s not an excuse. I just wanted you to know that.”

“I-I don’t know what to say...”

“You don’t need to say anything.” Lee Jeno heaved a deep breath, incoming tears approaching as his eyes glistened. “I’m sorry…sorry for forcing you into doing things you didn’t want to do… I held you hostage for so long, and because of me, you got into a scandal.”

“It wasn’t your fault...”

“It was, though. If I hadn’t forced you into this whole fiasco, I wouldn’t have insisted on kissing you in the hallway. It wouldn’t have triggered something in Yangyang to post those things about you,” Lee Jeno replied, wiping the tears that managed to escape from his eyes.

“Jeno...” This time, Jaemin looked at Lee Jeno, clutching on the latter’s coat. “S-Stop saying it like that… W-We both know that if I really didn’t want it, I could have done something to prevent it from happening...”

“Don’t,” Lee Jeno responded, shaking his head, his face contorted to that of devastation. “Don’t even try to defend me. I ruined you.”

“You didn’t—” a loud hiccuped slipped past Jaemin’s lips. “At first, I blamed you for everything, but I realized that you became the reason why everything started sinking in to me.”

Red lips, bloodshot eyes, and red cheeks—Jaemin never thought he’d be able to see such a fragile state of Lee Jeno, the guy who’d always looked tough and unbreakable. An unfriendly breeze walked past them, carrying Lee Jeno’s scent, invading Jaemin’s sense of smell. Jaemin almost lost it, almost gave up on the weight of his feelings, but what broke him completely was the next words Lee Jeno uttered.

“If this is going to be the last time, can I at least have one last kiss?”

As the snow continued falling and the leafless branches of trees kept swaying, Jaemin nodded without anything, his tears from his eyes falling freely. Slowly, his chin was lifted up as he met Lee Jeno’s gaze—the one with full of yearning and love. And when their lips touched, flashes of memories came back to Jaemin.

Has love always been this painful? Jaemin asked himself. Every time he likes or falls in love with someone, it never ends well. But he pushed the thought at the back of his mind, savoring the potentially one last kiss he and the love of his life would share. It was soft and delicate, full of tenderness and warmth. Out of all the kisses, Jaemin could say that it was the most intimate, the most passionate one they’d ever shared.

There was only one thought inside Jaemin’s head as they shared it, and that was he didn’t want it to end this way. He wants to be held by Jeno, wants to be kissed by him, wants to be taken care of by him. For once, he just wanted something to fall on its rightful place. And if he could choose what it would be, it’d be his and Lee Jeno’s relationship.

Jaemin felt Lee Jeno’s arms encircling his waist, pulling him closer, their lips tasting each other for the last time. And Jaemin couldn’t help himself but to finally wrap his arms around the raven-haired guy’s neck, eliciting a small sob as their lips went against each other in perfect synchronization.

Once they longed for air, the two pulled away, gasping for air. Lee Jeno’s eyes faltered as he stared at Jaemin. “I… I’m in love with you, Jaemin.”

Instantly, Jaemin’s heart seemed to let out a roar. “...W-What…?”

“But I no longer want to force you into doing things...” Lee Jeno cowered, masking the tears that were about to fall once again. “I thought you knew...but it doesn’t matter now.”

“Jeno—”

“Please, don’t say anything. I might not be able to take it,” Lee Jeno mumbled against the cold wind. “And if you ever think I played you, just know that there’s nothing between me and Renjun…”

“H-How…?”

“I helped him to be with Lucas. They both have always had feelings for each other and have always been afraid to confess. Do you remember that time I walked you home? That time when Lucas and Mark had to held me back from beating Yangyang up further? That was the day I helped Renjun,” Lee Jeno explained, staring right through Jaemin’s soul. “We exchanged ‘I love yous’ because I didn’t think it was a big deal, considering we’re close friends...”

Jaemin sobbed as the love of his life was about to turn away. However, before Lee Jeno could even do so, he tackled the guy to the ground, sniffling and hiccuping against the raven-haired guy’s chest. “P-Please, d-don’t leave me!”

“Do you really mean that?” Lee Jeno asked as he lay on his back with Jaemin on top, not minding the snow-covered pavement, wetting his clothes. As long as it’s Jaemin, it’s alright for Lee Jeno. He then started caressing the latter’s hair, cracking a small genuine smile. “Because if you do, I won’t ever leave you.”

“Y-Yeah, I love you so much, Jeno. Yes, you are a horny bastard, but I love you. Your subtle way of taking care of me, I saw right through all of it, but I was afraid to come to the conclusion that you like me because I thought these were all just a plan to avenge your friends,” Jaemin replied as he snuggled closer, tears streaming down from his eyes to Lee Jeno’s undershirt. “Please, let’s start over...”

As the snow finally stopped, a smile played on Lee Jeno’s lips. “Yeah, let’s start over.”

-

Inside the school premises, a few steps away from the main gates, Jaemin stood in his winter uniform, inhaling the crisp morning air of Seoul under the light blue sky. It was his first day after his one week suspension. The other students walking past him were already giving him dirty looks, but Jaemin focused on the way ahead. Just ignore them, he told himself.

He’d talked to Huang Renjun and had apologized to him for the things he did. Same goes to the rest of Haechan’s friends. He was out of the council together with his Jaehyun-hyung. Now, his Taeyong-hyung replaced Jaehyun as the council president and Qian Kun, the former sergeant-of-arms, replaced him as the council treasurer. Oh, and Liu Yangyang’s suspension was longer, a week longer to be exact, for stirring such a scandal.

Plastering on a smile, he took another deep breath, not minding the judging eyes as he stood in the quadrangle. He was about to walk off but was stopped when a familiar soft hand grabbed his, intertwining them. The smile that he put on instantly vanished.

When Jaemin looked over his shoulder to see who it was, he was met by a familiar eye smile that never fails to take his breath away, the eye smile that never fails to bring smile on his lips. “Are you ready?”

It was Lee Jeno, his boyfriend. Or should he say, Jeno? He probably should be used to addressing him by first name basis in his mind from now on.

With reddened cheeks and a tight-lipped smile, Jaemin nodded his head in response. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. I hope y'all enjoyed it. :))


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